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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24243826">Metaphysical: The Delta Saga</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraph_Years/pseuds/Seraph_Years'>Seraph_Years</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraph_Years/pseuds/Silver%20Blue'>Silver Blue (Seraph_Years)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Furry (Fandom), Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>2020, 4 parts, Action/Adventure, Amateur Work, Compilation work, Gen, Inspired by Inside Out, Inspired by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Inspired by Persona Series, Inspired by Zootopia, Novel, Somewhat based on true stories, Takes Place Inside The Mind, Urban Fantasy, inspired by a lot of things</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:28:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>81,570</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24243826</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraph_Years/pseuds/Seraph_Years, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraph_Years/pseuds/Silver%20Blue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It took four months to write all of this.</p><p>Part 1 is the story of a rabbit person who discovers a mysterious diary upon waking up in a new world. While he and 4 other people discover this mystery, a mysterious villain is chasing them around, so they have two cases on their hands. It only gets weirder from there.</p><p>I am completely open to any advice and criticism. If you have any of those, post it in the comments section.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Delta Saga</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Metaphysical<br/>
Part 1 - Kitten Whispers<br/>
Written by Silver</p><p>There are no chapters or sections to this at all because of how non-linear I want to make this. There are only dividers.<br/>
I’m about to tell a tale about a group of animals that associate with each other in various different ways.<br/>
Days 1 and 2 are about this one green (anthropomorphic) hare named Seraph doing things like carrying out missions for The System, helping out with clearing out some enemies...<br/>
Oh you’re not familiar with that? Allow me to fill you in.</p><p>
  <a href="https://ibb.co/bPQVK2D">https://ibb.co/bPQVK2D</a>
</p><p>Seraph looks like this. No questions asked. If you ever wanted commentary about his physical appearance, leave it to this.<br/>
As for his weaponry, he wields a green, cyberpunk-ish laser sword that can cut cleanly through glass. No shatters.<br/>
Of course, he’s not alone. He’s accompanied by this red (once again anthropomorphic) cat named Razor.</p><p>
  <a href="https://ibb.co/QNgK2bc">https://ibb.co/QNgK2bc</a>
</p><p><br/>
That’s him. Need any more info? It’s all right there.<br/>
Oh yeah, let me tell you about another guy, hidden deep underground of some sort of alternate dimension (Layer 1, we’d call it. Accessing it from Extratone would just result in the world appearing all weird). His name is 503 Violation, and he’s a spherical voice synthesizer equipped with powerful weapons hooked up to spider legs... Did I mention he’s gigantic and is walled by tons of junk and the bodies of those that tried to fight him solely because he LOOKED like a monster? Well I’ll tell ya, he’s actually pretty nice once you get to know him, deep voice and all. He’s also super powerful and has a variety of forms.<br/>
But this, guy, check out this guy.<br/>
His name is Pierre, and he literally transcended continuities to get to the one guy he hates the most, Seraph. He’s super tough, super strong, can teleport, summon fire, use telekinesis and I only listed several of his NUMEROUS powers. He came here to make a mess of things, take back what he thinks is his and make the universe collapse. He wears a black cloak to hide the fact that he basically has no body. Sure, he once got in a fight with Violation, but Violation lost that because of Pierre’s overwhelming strength. Before that, Pierre was able to bypass his spider legs in his own room to get to Seraph. He even punched open a locked, barred door AND dodged an instant-hit laser to get to him! Most recently, Seraph unlocked a trip to Layer 2 of the metaphysical world, but Pierre, being Pierre, he followed him there. Hoping to stalk this man till no tomorrow, Seraph only manages to get saved by a girl named <a href="https://ibb.co/48Ymf1M">Tiffany</a>. She’s an (anthropomorphic) fox that wields three weapons (ignore the arrows in that screenshot) – A wooden staff, a white, shiny sword Seraph gave her named Vertex, and a black gun that isn’t loaded with bullets called the Sinful Shell; it fires not bullets, but a ray of metaphysical energy that targets the soul. More villainous individuals get killed pretty easily by it, but Pierre’s villainy shall not be touched; he blocks that gun pretty easily using a reflection power that harms the gun’s user instead. Since Tiffany’s pure hearted, she doesn’t take much damage. Due to this, Vertex won’t lay a scratch on Pierre either, due to Vertex working just like the Sinful Shell.<br/>
Pierre’s influence would only get worse in the 6th day, when he found a diary laying on the floor, it’s only words reading:<br/>
“HE WILL BE SHOWING UP SOON, BETTER PREPARE FOR IT WELL SO THAT YOU MAY NOT DIE DURING YOUR JOURNEY. DIE OUT IN THE WILDLANDS, AND YOU MAY NEVER RETURN.”<br/>
Seraph motioned for Tiffany, Razor, and Della (another new recruit from the previous world) to get on their transport vehicles and travel the distant world of the Wildlands.</p><p>[EXTRATONE]<br/>
The Wildlands places itself a few hundred miles away from the cyberpunk city of Extratone, which is where our heroes live. This multi-biome region is home to all kinds of deadly opposition, including some of Pierre’s weaker kind. He commands a large army of individuals known as the Partials, and he will stop at nothing to make sure they take those heroes down. Meanwhile they packed enough ranged weaponry to keep themselves company for a while. Any attempt to sabotage The System’s mentality went under varying levels of success,<br/>
most likely due to the fact that the different layers are keeping it at bay – the deeper the layer, the stronger the user.<br/>
The diary, soon after, wrote:<br/>
“We both share a day. The better you perform in yours, the better I perform in mine and vice versa. Since we work hand in hand, I’m going to assume you’ll perform your absolute best because I will too. We may not have the perfect day, but at least nobody can take hold of these writings...”<br/>
After the waves of enemies subsided (after a lot of fighting, of course), Seraph noticed a large machine headed towards them. It was the Dune Machine, a large, Sandcrawler-esque machine with weapons where its weakpoints are. Thus, destroying those destroys the machine. What it did not anticipate, however, was how fast Seraph’s rapid-fire blaster was going to fire, and as a result, it suffered a quick death at his hands.<br/>
“You know, I knew that was going to happen.”, a guy standing on top of one of the mountains said. He jumped off, did three backflips and then leaped high, landed, and extended his hand.<br/>
“Not every day you get to see other people once in a while, right?”, this person said with a sort of “fun personality” kind of voice.<br/>
“First of all, can I get your name?”, Seraph said to the new guy.<br/>
“Oh, how rude. Please call me Vita.”<br/>
He was a hare just like Seraph was, but he was white colored and had markings on his face. He was wearing a suit that was light enough to practice his fighting style, which was heavily influenced by capoeira.<br/>
“I recognize that name... Were you looking for this?”, Seraph asked him as he showed him a card. He took it and gave it a look.<br/>
“I didn’t know you kept trinkets like this around. No matter where you got it from, I sure could use it ‘cause I got a whole deck full of ‘em!”, Vita exclaimed as he revealed his deck of cards, sliding his new one in-between the stack he currently has. He then puts them all away and says simply: “Follow me.”<br/>
He then reveals an underground base that, when the heroes march down the stairs, a familiar face has already destroyed several Partials with her powers.<br/>
“Vita, you’re late.”, Roulette told him.<br/>
“I obviously don’t MEAN it, Roulette. I had guests! Of course, I did know I had a job to do, but that gives me no reason to just leave these fine<br/>
ones behind... They’re happy to have one more, I’m happy to have 3 more.”, Vita explained in a “complaining-type” voice.<br/>
“Feel free to let them join us. After all, at least one of them has accompanied me throughout the last journey.”, Roulette assured.<br/>
4 HOURS LATER<br/>
Seraph was taking a VERY dangerous journey. HE was attempting to access layer 3 of the Metaphysical Realm. He had already received guidance from the System itself saying that the farther he goes, the messier the worlds become. Seraph took the challenge anyway, knowing that there was a much-desired Affinity Card to seek.<br/>
Diary Entry: “What are you doing?”<br/>
Affinity cards are special cards that depict something on the face-up side, with a peculiar logo on the face-down side. They contain insurmountable amounts of power, and the harder it is to get a card, the more powerful it is. The rarest cards require going to completely<br/>
different Metaphysical layers to obtain, like this one. Seraph had already discovered layers 1 and 2, but this time he needed to go through different stages called sequences.<br/>
Because sequences number 1,2,3 and 4 had already been broken, the amount of pressure he feels in his flight path is made more intense, as he has to dodge lasers, arrows, other meta-crafts (That in one fell swoop, Violation shows up and drives away before attempting to save Seraph), and eventually, he travels by his own lonesome. Then, a metaphysical being that only those that can see and enter the layers appears – a human-like entity only known as Raz.<br/>
“Listen up here. Pierre, as you know him? He’s long dead. He got killed off in the last world. How we remember this is nothing of your concern, but the being chasing you around, stronger than everything else? That was me. As one of Pierre’s Disciples, specifically chosen clones of him that serve one purpose, I of course had to be stronger than the strong and tougher than the tough. As we are a species developed--”<br/>
Seraph just blasts him with a laser before he can say much else, and he responds by throwing two cards at him, both quite rare, but not what Seraph has been looking for. They shock him with radiant energy, and although it tingles him a bit, the vast majority of it bounces off of him and summons another entity. An entity that has been trapped inside the metaphysical plane for who knows how long. This hare fell out of the sky as did Seraph. This new person, white in fur color, was wearing full “spellcaster” garb, complete with the kind of hat with gigantic brims on it. The two looked each other in the eye, one as surprised as the<br/>
other, when the new person got up, her voice obviously revealing her gender, and said:<br/>
“Did that card deal any lasting damage to you?! Oh yeah, call me Aptitude, It's better that way since I never gave you my name. After all, exactly two years--”<br/>
“Will give you such a crick in the neck?”, Seraph answered expectedly.<br/>
“Yeah. That. Anyways, what brought you here in the 3rd Metaphysical layer? Is there a problem you need sorting ou--”<br/>
Seraph then unexpectedly ejects the radiant energy from the cards he received, which was brought out in the form of the cards themselves. Aptitude was mortified to see this happen, as it wasn’t the first time it had happened. They manifested in the form of gigantic embodiments of what’s depicted on the cards - far too explicit to tell you here – and Seraph felt ashamed that during the exploit of obtaining ONE CARD - which he obtained, by the way – he had to fall into the loophole of obtaining two more.<br/>
“That’s not your fault. Everyone goes through this. In fact, your error is my error too. Let’s combat it together.”, Aptitude said determinately.<br/>
The first of these bosses “Foxhole”, was just that, a gigantic, anthropomorphic vulpine male that lacks features. Despite this, he<br/>
matched his card’s label, and though his battle required quick thinking and powerful skills (and some Affinity Cards), he could be defeated in combat quite swell.<br/>
The OTHER one, “Lepus Oscurita”, was a simple feat – all Seraph had to do was take out the Sinful Shell, point at the gigantic clone of Aptitude, and fire it. Thing is, he was standing close to Lepus’ legs, and Lepus was five times his size, so the area he pointed at hurt twice as worse. Despite the Shell not having any physical power.<br/>
“Why couldn’t you lead with that?!”, Aptitude said as she facepalmed.<br/>
“I wasn’t thinking about the Shell when we fought the first guy. It was just an idea.”, Seraph said concerningly.<br/>
“Regardless, we got the job done.”<br/>
“What are you doing up here? Never thought I’d find you here!”<br/>
“We spent AGES looking for you!”<br/>
It was Vita and Tiffany. They had managed to find Seraph and Aptitude in the third metaphysical layer through sheer dumb luck alone. “Who’s this person? Is she powerful?”, Vita asked Seraph about Aptitude.<br/>
“More on that later!”, Seraph answered.</p><p>[SENTINELS]<br/>
The police force in Extratone, the Sentinels, had already recruited Seraph into their ranks. How’d this happen?<br/>
It all started when Seraph was being harassed by Raz (He would do this), then when Violation stepped in and gave him a beatdown, Seraph went outside in Extratone and saw a huge machine created by Raz being attacked by an army consisting of bears, tigers, and the occasional cape buffalo. Their guns couldn’t scratch the machine, but one Affinity Card from Seraph got the job done. Everyone was so amazed by this that they accepted him into the force. Seraph took the part-time agreement.<br/>
Now that you know THAT story….<br/>
Seraph marched into his house and found a card on his desk. Labeled “The Plaything”, he took a good look at it and carried it with him to the Metaphysical Realm. Then, his whole world began to change. He started seeing visions of a (human) teenager in a completely different world in a school building where literally everyone is against him. Actually labeled “The Plaything”, he is antagonized by three people.<br/>
Diary Entry: “That’s me. I’m in that environment. It’s not easy getting bullied, but at least I have two different sides of me that know how to think things through. I mean, I’m still happy even when I’m not!”<br/>
“The Grand Summoner”, second in command to the next person on the list, she is only there to serve...<br/>
“The Emperor”, aka Raz, but way more powerful. He takes advantage of his power to constantly antagonize The Plaything. The people that used to fully support him are now forced to serve the Emperor and constantly seek out the Plaything in order to capture him and bring him back to the Emperor.<br/>
Sequences inside Seraph’s card have drawn out multiple depictions of despair from this all-powerful being. From the Grand Summoner being unable to help the Plaything due to her master’s demands, to other, more terrible things. Once the Emperor had trapped the Plaything in the True Red Zone, Plaything tried everything he had to fight, including the much-coveted Master Disc. When that failed too, he had one other option.<br/>
He had both of them teleported outside the school building, and the two of them started duking it out. It was quite the showdown, but Raz’s demise had come soon. He was thrown in a black hole, followed down there by Plaything, then after every bone in his body was fractured, Plaything drew the Sinful Shell from nowhere (This IS the Metaphysical Realm, after all) and fired it at Raz, leaving a gaping hole where his body should be.<br/>
Afterwards, Plaything realized that he was a unit designated to protect the suffering from the oppression. As “The seraph”, he was a 2-winged humanoid individual that knew all of the layers and learned to let go of burden. He would go on to personally meet our hero later on and join his team.</p><p>[PRESSURE]<br/>
Edge, one of Pierre’s Disciples, appeared on the cliffside and met The ser— sorry, Angel right there where he stood. “Ira’s a force to be reckoned with. Keep going at this rate, and we will have no choice but to summon him.”<br/>
He then vanished, because that’s not what this story is about.<br/>
On one hand, it’s about Angel showing Seraph around the new Confined Theater, which is this time a pristine white GIGANTIC megaplex that contains two floors. The first floor had three rooms and a set of stairs leading to the second floor. The second floor also had three screens, with rooms much bigger than the first floor’s. Both floors had concession stands, but mysteriously nobody seems to be running the place. There is no exit, however so one must teleport to leave the area. Seraph did find one room rather familiar, though.<br/>
Diary Entry: “This place has a true form! However, I can only see it but for one second every once in a while. You have to find the truest true form and explore every last corner of it.”<br/>
On the OTHER hand...<br/>
It’s about Angel attempting to smack some sense into Seraph. More specifically, he was once again tasked to send Missionary Discs (tabloids that contain information needed to fulfill certain duties for a certain location. It’s kind of a long story, but it does take place outside of both Extratone and the Metaphysical Realm.), but Seraph had run out of ways to make discs without getting his submission removed for violating rules.<br/>
Angel responded by putting him through a very surreal motion of events surrounding different locations in the Metaphysical Realm...<br/>
with every single last layer put together. Truly, it was a mesmerizing course to go through, with videogame graphics from the past and present clashing in many different ways. It culminates in the polygons of the 90s interacting with the high definition graphics of the present day, clashing and tussling with each other in increasingly freaky way. Seraph was then placed in a lone room, and the room started glitching about, as if it was about to shift. A new entity, Leaky, was forcibly shoved out of Seraph’s body. His transformation, however, was way worse than all of this.<br/>
Angel witnessed a golden hallway lined with machinery in his eyes. In the main room was several robots manning a supercomputer. Wires filled the room, and in the center was a massive cocoon containing a VERY stressed Seraph communicating with some unknown entity. Seraph seems to be controlling the robots, as he has them create Missionary Discs and save them for later.<br/>
Seraph: “Mi plenumis la pasivan misian celon. Kio estas mia sekva tasko?”<br/>
???: “Vi ĉiuj finiĝis nun. Mi rekomendas vin iom ripozi. Kiam vi vekiĝos la sekvan tagon, mi rekomendas, ke vi elektu, kiun el la tabeloj vi volas sendi. Viaj sendoj estos traktataj kun afableco.<br/>
NENIU FOLAS LA KONKONON!”<br/>
Angel knew this as Esperanto, but he only barely knew what the words meant. He continued to watch over Seraph, for he knew he was in there, but he didn’t care about Angel’s presence. He wanted to make a statement.<br/>
That he does... later.</p><p>[TIME TO CHANGE]<br/>
The Confined Theater has 6 rooms. 5 out of those six rooms all play one movie (not telling what it is), while the sixth room, on the second floor, plays a movie initialed “RH1973”. Again. That’s the only hint I’m giving you.<br/>
The second floor is so large it has its own concession stand, not helped by the fact that the first floor has one to begin with. This IS Layer 2 of the Metaphysical, so it can’t be helped.<br/>
Roulette’s a brown-ish furred (female) hare that specializes in strategizing with Affinity Cards... at first.<br/>
She recently obtained a foreign power by leaping into this continuity; her body glows, she is three times as strong as she used to be, and she refuses to say a word. Not much is known about this peculiarity, but it is quite useful. After all, she never lost herself.<br/>
Back to the events of present day, Angel met Edge in a wide-open angelic room inside of Layer 4 reminiscent of the previous rooms that Angel had fought enemies in before (there were 15 of those rooms). Edge had perfectly copied Angel’s move set in their previous battle, now he was a force of nature just like Angel was. He had wings, improved strength and durability, and just like Angel, he could wield a sword, which he did once the initial fistfight was over with.<br/>
The two clashed blows with their swords. Angel was wielding the Affinity Blade, made by taking three Endear-Class Affinity cards (read: the strongest of the strongest) and putting them together. Edge’s was a loose clone of that sword obtained by cloning the Affinity Blade. It lacks the blade’s power, however.<br/>
This weakness cost Edge his sword, but he was able to sufficiently combo Angel and kick him inside the Confined Theater. He could hear the sounds of the movie playing from within the room, but Angel wanted to hide the existence of the Theater to Edge even though Edge already knew where the Theater was. This one flaw severely crippled Angel’s ego. As he lay there, Edge spouted some words that I’m not sure if I quite remember. Angel, however....<br/>
“You don’t know when to stop, do you?”<br/>
After that, he got up and said: “You’re under arrest!”<br/>
The movie in the background perfectly synchronized their lines with each other, even as Edge replied with: “For what, hurting your f---” before getting blasted back by one of Angel’s lasers, which cut the movie off in the first room. Angel was wearing a facial expression that just shouted “I’m absolutely through with this person.”<br/>
Edge, however, gave him a nice surprise by rotating the entire theater by 90 degrees, causing Angel to slip off and land on the glass panel functioning as a viewpoint. Edge jumped and attempted to attack Angel where he stood, but he saw this coming and retaliated by flying over to Edge and attacking him there. The two got into a teleport fight, followed by Edge launching Angel to the ceiling. Angel was able to get up in time before Edge just spun the Theater around like a globe turned upside down. The two just kept flying and trying to land hits on each other, culminating in the Theater manifesting itself in the form of bubbles swarming a warped version of the Theater’s geometries. The whole Theater was one big cube. The bubbles were different parts of it.<br/>
Edge announced his plans to “destroy [Angel], change the movies displayed in the Theater, and change the way the System works FOREVER!”, as he blasted Angel with 6 dark projectiles...<br/>
Just before Angel took the Affinity Blade, cancelled the projectiles with one swipe, then used another to fire 6 light projectiles that disintegrated Edge’s body. His soul was then trapped in the confineries of the Theater, to be taken to Layer 5 to be eaten by its guardian, the Detriment (think a giant deity that eats whatever’s put in front of it.)</p><p>[TAKE IT EASY]<br/>
I’m going to make this a bit short here....<br/>
Angel met quite a fearsome opponent that day. He was named Ware.<br/>
Ware was a cyborg-ish type individual. He was immeasurably strong and possessed a variety of powers. He comes after Raz and Edge as one of Pierre’s Disciples, and he shows it well. In fact, he comes very close to defeating Angel.<br/>
During their first battle, Angel was tussling unsuccessfully with Ware in Layer 4 of the Metaphysical Realm, matching blow for blow and getting himself handed to by Ware’s attacks. They’re fighting on atoms at this<br/>
point because that’s what this part of the Metaphysical looks like. After getting caught in a blistering combo, Ware forcibly ripped apart Angel’s left wing, leaving him in lots of pain and completely unable to fly. Ware threw him out of Layer 4 back into Extratone.<br/>
Everyone that saw him afterwards came to his aid. Although Angel got to keep his broken wing, It took a long while to fix. As in, a long while.<br/>
We’re talking about Tiffany and the others going from trying to reattach the wing to using healing powers to stitch the two back together. No success. Only after realizing that Angel’s wings were connected by strands (Metaphysical beings’ equivalent to bones) that linked to Angel’s backside were they able to reconnect Angel’s wing, and even then his backside was bleeding heavily (Every being in the Metaphysical world bleeds red, no matter who it is.)<br/>
“How long do you think it’ll take to heal?”, Tiffany asked.<br/>
“A while. Metaphysical beings regenerate faster in the other world, but Ware will find me faster over there and break me apart. Let’s find out what happens after a while of healing.”, Angel responded.<br/>
Several hours passed (roughly two days in the Metaphysical world), and Angel’s wing was barely stable enough to hold together, but not stable enough to fly. Angel responded to this by running some track in the Metaphysical. He jumped ship to Layer 3 and ran some distance on the<br/>
trail that led to Layer 4. By then (Only about 5 minutes) Angel could fly again... straight to Ware’s general location.<br/>
Expectedly, the two kept fighting each other. Ware was a mix between two people, the Oppressor (the descendant to the Emperor) and the Violator. The Grand Summoner wants to revive her distant idol, Pierre. Pierre was a destructive mastermind from the previous continuity bent on destroying the universe, and he would do anything to do it. The Grand Summoner believes that if she can unite Pierre (The Destroyer) with The Harmony (Either Seraph or Angel), then she can obtain all the power she wants and change the course of the Metaphysical world. Locked away in Layer 8, she continually attempts to revive Pierre through increasingly complex methods. All of her experiments turned out to be failed clones of Pierre given names chosen from The Grand Summoner’ catalog. GS knew that they would fail in their missions because they are not Pierre. Pierre was nearly unstoppable during his prior journey for conquest; it took the power of the universe to stop him. GS thinks she can revive Pierre and set forth the next parameter of her plan. Of course, she can’t escape Layer 8, so she built an entire kingdom up there dedicated to her work. She has made locations for summoning rituals, and Pierre has been chalked up to a god by her because of how much she wants to see the Great Turnabout happen. One that would change the course of the Metaphysical forever. She could escape Layer 8, destroy our heroes, and ensure that nobody can stand in her way.<br/>
The Violator was a good friend of hers despite being mentally unstable. He got his name for a reason because he loves to destroy things. GS put him in a large, indestructible room specifically because he would<br/>
destroy anything in his way that isn’t GS. She hopes one day that she can actually unleash The Violator in an attempt to destroy the heroes, for if they actually got anywhere near close to Layer 8 it could halt her plans of bringing back the ultimate dark god.<br/>
Now I won’t go into detail about EVERYTHING that happened here....<br/>
The Confined Theater actually changes shape depending on the layer. Layer 4 is a real treat: It actually contains another room right under it accessible from the second floor’s staircase. It’s a HUGE labyrinth prefixed by a cafeteria called Sigma A2. It takes twenty to forty minutes for a person to go from Sigma A2 to the next room in the list, Beta B4.<br/>
The Theater is also PLASTERED with animated movie posters that, according to Angel, were all made in 2016, on or before. (Only hint I’m giving you.) There are even posters on the GROUND (of the lobby), but nowhere near the Justifiers on the ground that show 6 Affinity Cards lined in a circle. These Cards are some of the strongest ever found, and they are kept here, protected. They are said to contain a secret power.<br/>
Somewhere along the line, Seraph finally escaped his cocoon after two of his Missionary Discs gained positive results.</p><p>[FIREFLIES]<br/>
むかしむかし、セラフはトレジャラーという名の存在を発見しました。 彼らはうまくいきませんでしたが、結局のところ、トレジャラーはレイヤー5への道を妨げていたので、これが必要でした。<br/>
レイヤー4の空でそこで敗北すると、レイヤー5はセラフに開かれ、彼は入ることができました。<br/>
See all that Japanese text? That’s FILLER. But it all links here.<br/>
Once Seraph entered Layer 5, it started to look familiar to him. He boarded the train next to him, and it took him to an all-too familiar city. His diary had a lot of entries in it at this point but this one sentence read: “This is not where you think you are going. Tread lightly.”<br/>
15 minutes passed, and it became apparent to Seraph that his next destination was none other than....a place from a 2016 film known for its twisting skyscraper(s). (I’m out of hints.)<br/>
After some time, he finally got outside... and was warped to a large, open field with some Partials in it. Some Sentinels were dispatched to that area. Most of them were mowed down, so Seraph made use of that sword Angel gave him earlier. Codenamed “Juliet Makeover”, it’s a Japanese-style sword with markings on it that glow when enough hits are dealt. The user can then do a special move with the sword that does a massive amount of damage. Seraph does just that when he does battle with the Partials, and as a result a large amount of them is cleared off. Della arrives on the scene shortly afterwards and conjures lightning with her hands (she’s nine), destroying the rest of the group.<br/>
Then the sky turns red.<br/>
A large, white SUV-like Partial appears from the sky all of a sudden, all the more willing to run over our heroes. It can flip itself over, as its lower half is separate from the main body. This is because of the unique shape of the main body, meaning it never skips a beat of activity. Because of this, it can drive backwards without hitting anything.<br/>
License Plate: 0117<br/>
Everyone that recently arrived to [REDACTED] can see this from Savanna Central alone, and that includes Vita, Tiffany, Angel and even Roulette. Nah, it only LOOKS like what you think, but it isn’t that city at all. It’s a carbon copy of it that looks a bit different than usual!<br/>
This vehicle had laser cannons on either side of it that it can fire at any point, whether it’s driving, stopping or even flipping around. That’s why Seraph and Della had so much trouble fighting it until Seraph pulled out the Sinful Shell and fired at it, causing its main body to split in half. From there, Seraph threw a Detonator Capsule at it, so that when it recovered from the split and rejoined, the bomb would go off and blow up the entire vehicle.<br/>
Everyone that saw this commended Seraph for this, including the remaining Sentinels. However, Seraph told them that in order to conduct the next step in the plan, they would need to scale the city and climb to the top of it, then summon the portal leading to True Layer 5.<br/>
He split the team into two groups. One would go to the left and prevent enemies from harming Group 2. Group 2 would do the actual scaling and Seraph, the leader of that group, would summon the portal to carry both groups up into True Layer 5.<br/>
Group 2 started off by entering one of the skyscrapers, then carefully making their way to the top by taking an elevator to the roof. They finally make their ascent clear by jumping on each skyscraper, wall-jumping off of each building as they went along. Nobody was there to witness this other than both groups, so it was fine. Once the heroes finally landed on a building with a flat surface, they realized that they are<br/>
1. At least a thousand feet off of the ground<br/>
2. Another thousand feet before they reach the top.<br/>
Group 1 covered for them by going aerial, attacking the enemies attempting to surprise attack Group 2. As they do this, Group 2 ascents once more into the top of the city. From there, Seraph holds up an Affinity Card and the portal is summoned.<br/>
Diary Entry: “Now that that’s out of the way, I’d like for you to meet someone. His name is the Detriment. The ultimate blockage. He prohibits the usage of the Gate of Prayer despite it being activated in the other continuity. He’s a deity known for eating everything that comes his path. It was his time to leave now. He is utterly fixated on a single thing and will not leave unless prompted. And that’s a strong maybe. Don’t just let him sit there, unless the world needs to be limited.”<br/>
Seraph, Della and Tiffany successfully managed to meet the Detriment head on. It turns around and sees our heroes, then realizes that its time has come to an end. It being so massive (48’ 11”), it has to sit down to fight, and even then its quite durable and strong. It takes a large amount of effort to defeat. Della’s powers help out to a degree, as her elemental powers can help slow it down. Preferably lightning, as paralysis is a noted side-effect. Seraph’s Affinity cards do the most damage to it, but since his durability is not very high, he needs to move<br/>
around a lot in order to avoid getting hit. Tiffany’s all for damage, as Vertex and Sinful Shell can reduce Detriment’s health to the point where an Affinity Card/Vertex combo can take off large fractions of health.<br/>
But of course, as the Gate of Prayer is required to take down this giant, Seraph conjures it, deals massive damage to Detriment, and completely destroys it through disintegration.<br/>
Having done that, the Diary makes an entry about how free it is, then it returns Seraph and friends to Extratone. This also reveals the path to Layer 6.</p><p>[TRUE TO HEART]<br/>
Seraph went to meet Violation (note the spelling here) about one of his Missionary Discs coming back positive from the Social Firewall, and as they conversed, a mysterious hand appeared and dragged Seraph away from Violation’s home. “What the...?”, Violation uttered as he left his spider tank to investigate the issue.<br/>
It was then that Seraph was pulled into a room with nothing in it except for him and the Violator (spelling again). The Violator, obviously out of his mind, savagely beat Seraph for a while until 503 Violation appeared<br/>
and forced Violator to let him go. Seraph looked pretty wounded from that encounter, but it wasn’t enough to dent his determination. He had Della heal him up, then he brought her along to confront The Violator. As it turns out, his true name is Colossus (A walking suit of armor that is sculpted like a gorilla’s body. His fists greatly resemble the Infinity Gauntlet, so his punches deal extra damage.), and he was positioned on the 6th layer because it was close to the City on Layer 5. Being there meant he could wreck it, and thus shut down the Confined Theater, weakening The System’s defenses. As we all know, GS wants to conquer the System and slowly destroy it in order to remake it in her own image. However, something tells us that there’s a good guy behind GS that is attempting to be free....<br/>
A lot of Seraph’s attacks don’t dent Colossus, so his Affinity Cards play a huge role here in this battle. However, since their power is greatly reduced here thanks to Colossus’ increased defenses (both physical defense and special defense), Della is a godsend, due to her healing being far above the allies’ Max HP at this point. Her other powers also help, particularly her ice abilities. (She’s nine years old and can freeze a proto-deity in place just by thinking about it. She IS, however, mentally an adult and never ages.) Freezing the enemy at point blank range also gives Violation free permission to use his strongest Skills. Overall, it’s more of a resource-driven battle than anything, as the next phase determines all.<br/>
Colossus grows so large he goes down a layer and confronts the City down there that Seraph is oh-so-familiar with. Let the diary explain all:<br/>
“I’m not allowed to say the name of this city, but it was created in the beginning of 2016 and is home to a wide variety of districts. You know this already but the Grand Summoner hates my guts and wants me dead, so she placed Colossus here in order to destroy the city, shut down the Confined Theater and further weaken my defenses so that her forces can take over and merge every layer into one. Doing so will exponentially increase her power to the point where NOBODY can stop her. In order to even scratch this hulking armored gorilla (with 34 million HP, and a truckload of strength and defense), you need to hit 5 points around the city. Each point is in a separate district, and the 5th one is on top of the twisting skyscraper on the right side of the city, from the front view. Be careful though, Colossus doesn’t play nice. He’ll swing, shoot lasers, and stomp his feet. He also has carpet bombs, rocket launchers, and as many as 3 laser cannons.<br/>
Grand Summoner really came prepared, didn’t she?”<br/>
Seraph made careful arrangements to follow the System’s directions while motioning Della, Violation and Angel (he got there as soon as he got wind that Colossus was out and about. He’s the biggest thing that Angel fought in years.) to keep the armored beast at bay.<br/>
“Make sure he doesn’t come near the city!”<br/>
Della: “That’s easy for you to say--”<br/>
(Angel then physically flies over and pushes Colossus back, it actually works a bit.)<br/>
Angel: “It was beauty that killed the beast.”<br/>
Seraph: “Who’s the beauty?”<br/>
Diary: “There are points to hit, Seraph.”<br/>
Seraph then stops talking and rushes over to where each of the points are; his blinding speed makes it difficult to see where he’s going, and as a result his movements are nothing other than blurs. Once he hit those points, a large black hole appeared in the air.<br/>
Seraph: “I did it, guys!”<br/>
(The allies stop fighting. Colossus looks towards the black hole and attempts to open fire. Angel flies Della over to where the black hole is and she casts a large shield to block the fire.)<br/>
503 Violation: “Look out, you two!”<br/>
Violation, who’s controlling the black hole, fires a GIGANTIC laser beam at Colossus, tearing his armor apart and reducing him to charred metal and a broken soul.<br/>
503 Violation: “Seraph, my true alias is Harathrum. I control the Missionary System. The robots that you see there are all built and controlled by me. (You probably knew that.) The Social Firewall is actually a network of other users that receive the information provided by your discs and comment/rate it accordingly. When your data comes back positive, it means that you did a good job racking up points from your disc’s contents. The Social Firewall exists far beyond the Metaphysical world and even Extratone, which has its own problems.”<br/>
Seraph: “And that’s one reason why the cocoon was made – to test out my skills in Disc-making.”</p><p>[FAST INVERSE SQUARE ROOT 1ST MOVEMENT]<br/>
The Grand Summoner, upon seeing her units die off like they did, decided to unveil her latest plan. She uses a machine that is powered by mysterious forces called Instinct Phrases in order to summon black holes that release tons of Partials shaped like wolves, lions (both genders), bears, hawks and even sharks (flying sharks). She was so delighted by this that she commanded them to make way for Extratone and multiplied the number of black holes being summoned.<br/>
Seraph saw the most unusual thing in Layer 6 (other than The Wizard): A female version of him that looked way too familiar to him (and anyone who’s been to a movie theater in ‘96) named Stephanie. She had a different fur color (closer to brown than blonde) than usual but was otherwise slightly the same person.<br/>
Seraph: ”Well ain’t that something!”<br/>
Stephanie: ”There’s a huge thing we need to talk about.”<br/>
Stephanie is living proof that glass cannons exist; she is an INCREDIBLY competent Synergy user (as she proves on a horde of Partials) and incredibly agile to boot, judging by how even the most undodgeable attacks from the Partials can’t faze her; the lower she goes, the better.<br/>
She then shows Seraph a machine that she’s been hiding from literally everyone in this continuity and the last one.<br/>
“This right here is the Infatuation Counter. Such a huge machine required not only securing all of the roots to the Metaphysical World, but also keeping it an absolute secret. All connections to this world were literally cut off, with two walls placed in-between to prevent contact. When a powerful foe was destroyed in the last world, one of the walls was broken. Resetting the universe broke the second wall and opened up the route leading to this world. It had to be secure in case you’d ever find it.”<br/>
Seraph: ”How do you know all of this?”<br/>
Stephanie: “Someone told me. Anyway---”<br/>
Then, out of nowhere, Seraph was lifted up into the air. He then saw the other ones lifted out of their routes into seeming destruction. Visions of familiar elements can be seen in the flight path, and Seraph was only able to be saved by his diary, which transported him to a new location altogether different.<br/>
The Confined Mall.<br/>
A bigger version of the Confined Theater revealed that the actual cinema was the top floor – this airport-like location is just the first floor out of four.<br/>
We’re gonna need a bigger squad to explore everything.<br/>
Diary Entry: ”Heads up rabbit; This mall is actually the gateway between the real world and the Mental Cycle, the world you are ACTUALLY living in, which includes all 8 Layers and Extratone. My world, Lowercase, is the real world and I can be found in it. The Grand Summoner - the one summoning all the bad guys, isn’t the good guy. There’s another entity available that was imprisoned by the Grand Summoner; her name is The Queen. She would protect you more than anything but her good side infuriated GS to the point where she locked her behind a successful<br/>
summon of Pierre that would allow the Queen to see her wreck the world and everything with her new sidekick. I don’t think that all is what it seems, though. You might want to check the mall while you’re here...”<br/>
The very first area Seraph decides to check out in this pristine white mall is a room that has a display on it showing several different characters that can be viewed.<br/>
The mall in general looks like a regular city mall with the added luxury of an automatic escalator. Several movie posters can be spotted on the walls, most notably for--<br/>
“Product designation ZT2016! (Or if you insist, Zootopia.) Oh yeah, hey. I’m not going to mask this whole reveal thing anymore. There are way too many posters for that to begin with, so the mall just needed a little decorating. Some other movies can be seen as posters in the mall, and when you tap on one, you can even see a short video for each poster!” -Diary Entry<br/>
Seraph then went and accessed each of his allies’ profiles. Of course, the screen doesn’t typically work unless the diary influences its actions; in fact, nothing here works without the diary. It’s that important.<br/>
“Della S. Age: 9 (physically, that number never changes) 23 (Mentally, which explains her knowledge on Synergy).<br/>
A greyish white-furred young lagomorph that is older than she looks. Not only that, but her Synergy prowess is unmatched in the battlefield, being able to focus on crowd control while simultaneously keeping single foes at bay due to her impressive physical range, status effects like paralysis, freezing and burning, and damage. Despite being a pincushion due to her low HP, she doesn’t take no for an answer and frequently gets back up from a battle due to her willpower surpassing her defense stat.”<br/>
“Roulette<br/>
She and Vita being living proof that there are never too many lagomorphs, this quite literal brown bunny is another master of Synergy, almost exclusively relying on it, but over time she became more of a physical fighter, mixing up her physical attacks with elements. She’s a damage over time guru, preferring to keep the singular damage going along with her physical attacks. Just don’t put her in a crowd.”<br/>
[FAST INVERSE SQUARE ROOT 2ND MOVEMENT]<br/>
“Vita<br/>
Entirely black-furred (with white markings) is just one of his traits. An everlasting love for brownies? Another entry in the sketchbook. Capoeira-influenced fighting style with lots of flips and kicks (he almost<br/>
never punches)? Surprising, but to him, it’s no big deal. He can summon his family members through Affinity Cards that allow him to do so.”<br/>
“One thing that all of these rabbits have in common is that they are united by a leader from another world, Seraph. He is a conduit for the Lowercase world, and the diary that he owns exists in the real world, too. The Scientist, as they call him, writes entries in the diary that are transfused into the diary in the Mental Cycle. The Scientist goes through his own problems in the real world (the one that the Mental Cycle heroes call Lowercase) that are translated in the Mental Cycle as Partials and the villains. No, Lowercase isn’t just some fictional location as one may presume. It is the ACTUAL, REAL WORLD. Like the one you’re in now. The real world is outside this location, but one may be able to peer through it using a special method.”<br/>
Before Seraph was able to get to Razor’s entry, he realized that his world is parallel to the real one. Whatever problems go on in there, he and his team has to solve them in the Mental Cycle. Everything in that diary proved true.<br/>
Before he was able to explore the rest of the Confined Mall (which had a bunch of cool displays in it), he was suddenly warped to Extratone, where the Sentinels, the police force in Extratone, assigned him a mission. One that everyone else was involved in. It was to clear out all of the Partials in Extratone so that the Metaphysical Layers would be easier to clear out. Seraph undertook that mission and several others throughout the day....<br/>
...But little did he know that someone else, one of his future allies, was already exploring Layer 6....<br/>
[COMPLETE SURPRISE]<br/>
...he was a new type of hero, another Metaphysical being. These beings resemble neither man nor beast. Caldera, he was called, was a powerful force, a knight in armor that had a variety of powers in hand. He explored the layers of the Metaphysical, powerfully destroying every enemy in his way through his extensive array of powers.<br/>
Standing 5'8 and being around middle-weight, Caldera's armor was a sight to behold. It was cyberpunkish metal, able to move around freely yet withstand plenty of hits.<br/>
His case was a rather simple story. He had already traversed Layers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 throughout the day, and as he went to Layer 6, he saw a most surprising thing...<br/>
Hidden in the depths of the Confined Mall, was a creature outlined with colorful effects. It highly resembled a rabbit, and was said to be a Partial that commanded every partial that matched its type.<br/>
Lepus Cantus (Lat. “singing rabbit”).<br/>
Caldera came in the room where it was and thrashed at it. Lepus responded by summoning Rabbit Partials and kept its distance, using ranged attacks when necessary. Caldera easily disposed of the Partials with his scythe and went for Lepus. It responded by taking his scythe and breaking it. Caldera, surprised at this, pulled out a sword and attempted to attack Lepus more. However, the being put its hands up as if it’s trying to block an attack. The creature was friendly. In fact, Lepus was one of the Visual Studies, a group of 7 individuals that possessed immense power and strength, and necessary to power the Confined Mall. The Grand Summoner wants to eliminate these individuals because believe it or not the Confined Mall is in the middle of the city on Layer 6!<br/>
Caldera: “I didn’t know you were with us...”<br/>
Lepus (Partials are incapable of regular communication, so thought patterns are substituted.): “(Well, there’s another one of me named Stephanie, another Visual Study. You should go see her, she’s allied with one of the strongest people around.)”<br/>
Visual Studies (or Visuals for short) are typically Metaphysical beings that resemble another entity that the System is familiar with. Caldera, holding that info, is about to go about his way when another Boss Partial, Ursus Cantus (Lat. “singing bear”), a bear-shaped mass of Partial Energy, appears and starts duking it out with Lepus. Caldera concerningly watched as Lepus and Ursus were clashing with each other, landing blow for blow.<br/>
At one point, in another room that Ursus teleported it and Lepus to, Lepus was knocked down by Ursus. Ursus drew an axe, attempting to split Lepus in half. Although Lepus’ kick did stagger Ursus back a bit, it wasn’t enough to let Lepus recover, and Ursus went through with the strike. Ursus left the room, and Caldera came in and saw Lepus’ body on the ground, bloodstained. Ursus then covered up one of the walls in the second floor with its influence, announcing that it became a pretty strong individual and was ready to take over the Confined Mall.<br/>
Caldera then agreed with Lepus to combine himself with its body, allowing Caldera to become far stronger, and allowing Lepus to fully recover so that it can be brought back to life. From there, Caldera entered the second floor, and saw none other than Tiffany and Vita there, fighting Bear Partials. “The second floor of this place contains the place where all of my creations are. I’m most powerful here.”, Vita said. “I was wondering where you were.”, Tiffany said.<br/>
As Caldera kicks a Bear Partial aside, he runs towards a wall, punches it so hard it disappears, then directs his team towards Ursus Cantus. He then slides on an escalator, uses three sword attacks on some Bear Partials, then he slides around a corner. On top of that, he knocks some more Bear Partials away using his sword. Sliding on another escalator (there are three escalators per floor, each floor is separated by a roof), he then runs on some walls to avoid the floor lightning. The other heroes follow him, Vita destroying some Bear Partials with his yoyo. Ursus Cantus awaits the heroes there, and it jumps down and reveals<br/>
its massive size. Thus, the mission to cleanse the Confined Mall had begun.<br/>
Caldera began to charge up an attack with his electrically-charged bow, but Ursus slaps it away, causing Tiffany to jump and plunge Vertex through Ursus. It isn’t even affected by this, and it slaps Tiffany away while throwing Vertex away. Vita simply waits in the background, holding back his true power while the two fight the bear. Caldera gets up and invokes Lepus’「PRESSURE」Nullifier II, which is a piercing laser-type attack that actually manages to harm Ursus. It takes quite a bit of damage and it’s here that Vita decides to finally step in after Tiffany does a sword combo with Vertex. Vita invokes several incantations (“Disŝuti kaj repuŝi, malplenigi kaj limigi, filtri la menson de mia malamiko kaj aktivigi la parametron de la fraktalo …"), causing various shapes to assault Ursus, doing massive damage with each diamond, rhombus, square and triangle. If that wasn’t enough, Vita also summons his allies, two foxes that utilize electricity, a meerkat with an ice bow/arrows, and another fox that burns Ursus’ health to a crisp. As Vita continues hitting Ursus with his yoyo (18 times!), Tiffany finishes the job with one hit of Sinful Shell. Ursus vanishes, Lepus makes a full recovery - albeit no longer as a Partial, and the Mall is restored to normal. However, Caldera, Tiffany and Vita are thrown out of the Mall and warped to Extratone, as is Lepus.<br/>
Seraph and Della are very surprised to see those four, as is Lepus: “(Oh look, TWO more Visuals!)”, referring to Della and Stephanie.<br/>
[MISSION VERY POSSIBLE]<br/>
The Partials in Extratone come in 4 varieties: Bear Partials: the ones that hit hard, can take a lot of punishment, and move very slowly in comparison with the other partials.<br/>
Rabbit Partials: Fast, they multiply like their namesake and they utilize weak, yet fast strikes to rack up combos.<br/>
Wolf Partials: Hard to hit because of how swift they are, these guys typically play it safe by dodging attacks and replying with their own. Thus, it’s recommended to close the distance and hit them as fast and hard as possible.<br/>
Fox Partials: Sneaky enemies. They will try to hide from someone and even feign weakness to totally catch them off guard. Detect their presence and react accordingly.<br/>
Once upon this battle, A gigantic Partial called Whale Ex Machina spawned in the skies of Extratone (in full daylight). Seraph responded by transforming into a gigantic butterfly Partial named Winged Phantasmagoria. It can shoot fireballs, fly around, and its wingspan is large enough to cut through some substances. Whale Ex Machina tried to wipe it out with a beam, but Phantasmagoria absorbed the beam<br/>
and fired it back while sacrificing itself to destroy the whale. Seraph, however, fell back down to the ground while admiring his accomplishment.<br/>
Vita, in battle, can use his yoyo to inflict damage to Partials. His yoyo (and the string) is shaped like a diamond, and it can do all kinds of tricks for massive damage. In addition to a thin sword that he obtained from his side of the universe, he can also use one of 4 Affinity Cards to summon his family members:<br/>
Faith: A curly-haired meerkat with a bow made of (and shoots) ice. She prefers to jump around and stay out of range while firing arrows. Her best attack is an ice storm from above from just one arrow. Afterwards, an iceberg falls from the air and splits into two, pushing Partials aside and dealing damage. Tip of the iceberg hurts the most.<br/>
Amelia/Adonis: Two foxes that can control electricity. Despite working together by dancing while controlling electrical currents, they have two separate forms from a past life:<br/>
Amelia: As the spirit “Christina”, she unleashes a gigantic laser beam that shines in every color of the rainbow. She cannot move while charging or firing the beam.<br/>
Adonis: As the spirit “Aidan”, he spins around while firing 4 blue laser beams around him. Unlike Amelia, he can move around while doing this.<br/>
Benjamin: His powers differ from all three of the above; when he is summoned, he freezes time, allowing Vita and his allies to get some free hits in. Sources say that Ben hides a greater power than just simply freezing time. However, his pacifier (Yep, we got babies with super-powers now. You’ve heard of that before, haven’t you?) prevents him from truly dominating the battlefield. Though Vita keeps that in check for a reason.<br/>
Vita himself can join forces with the Miracle Couple (Only hints: a grey bunny and a red fox) to create an orb in the air that does massive damage to all enemies in an area. This and the next move can take away most of Vita’s energy, though.<br/>
Vita has another form generated from an enemy of his known only as “The Fool”. Crushing Soul Panic, as it is called, has Vita release some of his previously contained power into a violent frenzy. He zips around the room with unforeseen strength, then he pounds the ground so hard that it cracks. The shockwave that emits from this attack has been known to stagger Elephant Partials, which don’t flinch from much at all.<br/>
Along the way, Seraph gains an ally from the Social Firewall. His Echo, Plantigrade Blue, is a worthy ally that can shield Seraph from any attack<br/>
and reply to it sevenfold. However, one more hit and it cracks. A few minutes Seraph is deprived of the bodyguard, and he must summon it again after a while. Everyone else will get one when the time comes.<br/>
[SUGAR GLIDER: THE ABRIDGED RETELLING] (The entire thing would take a long time to jot down, and I don’t even remember it all)<br/>
1. A mysterious entity once showed up dressed in nothing but a hood (their body was shadowed by the hood). An extravagant, blue hood that meant nothing could faze them. After causing a stir that ultimately meant no harm, this guy just straight up vanished.<br/>
2. The Hierophant, an entity I never mentioned until now, is a rather secluded individual whose mere presence is harmful to Seraph. The above-mentioned entity is none other than The Scientist’s form up above known as Cadence. Cadence was the result of an experiment done by the Scientist. He resembled a raccoon but wasn’t in fact, a raccoon. The Scientist would write an incantation to the Hierophant in order to get her to appear. Cadence tried everything he could to prevent Seraph from teleporting to her location, lest he be killed off. As time comes to pass, The Hierophant, instead of killing Seraph, traps him in a ring after encircling him inside an undodgeable pattern of projectiles. The ring was launched outside of the room inside the Confined Mall, and Cadence went forth to challenge The Hierophant. After a brief battle involving Hierophant stopping time to dodge projectiles<br/>
launched from Violation (who told Cadence to run away, and after he did, Violation stepped up to home plate to take on the Hierophant.) One form change (A large, fabulous jewel-encased body that came about from the Hierophant glitching into it) from the Hierophant and a usage of Cadence’s Deadly Eye attack that spent his stamina reserves later, and Seraph was freed by Cadence’s Fragment Restoration technique that used Hierophant’s essence to break the ring.<br/>
The story unfolds when Seraph lends himself over to a mission involving him travelling to Hell. No, not a substitute of Hell, the actual location. Seraph literally went to Hell. Along the way, a cat named Clarence stopped him from going. Or, well, tried to. “I think this is a horrible idea.”, he said to Seraph. All Seraph did was give him an epic death glare that staggered Clarence a bit. “Not even going to try, are you?”, Seraph sternly said before walking away to the Gateway to Birth.<br/>
Clarence followed him there and was one “Stop right now!” to getting shot by Seraph’s Sinful Shell. He survives this, but takes serious damage.<br/>
Now, as Seraph went inside the Gateway to Birth, he saw a mysterious artifact. Pandora’s Box. “I-I think I found it. I’m going to investigate its purpose.” It was a glowing green gemstone trapped in a sun-shaped amulet. Its power caused Seraph to tremble. Tremble so furiously, Clarence caught up with him and said “I don’t think it’s a great idea to handle an artifact holding such great power. Those that have held on to<br/>
it before have gone mad or died!” Seraph took this to heart when he saw the walls of the Gateway, which were bloodied like nothing else. Seraph had never seen such gore before, and it was starting to scare him out of the mission. Being ever so steadfast, however, Seraph held on and was about to put the Box in his pocket. The Box, however, levitated out of Seraph’s hand, and shook. Shook so greatly, that it looked like it was about to explode. It didn’t, but what it DID do was sink into the floor, causing a grey warp pool to spawn where it went. “No. Don’t go in there. There is an untold amount of mysteries in that world. It’s the 3rd Depth of Hell, I tell you! The last person that went down there had his name written in the book.”, Clarence told Seraph. “What book?”, Seraph asks. ”You’ll figure it out.”, Clarence cryptically utters. With that, Seraph fell into the pool on his own.<br/>
The City.<br/>
Such atmosphere. Like a ghost haunted it. Nothing but grey greys, and solid concrete lined with sepia. Like nothing that Seraph had ever seen before. He walked around, unsure of where he was going. The roads were empty. The buildings were closed off and inactive. The sun was out, but so was the moon. The sky was filled with nothing. Seraph has repeatedly checked to see if anyone was there, for there was no escaping the City. Having checked, he realized that he was truly alone here. All from a nice, refreshing atmosphere, now he is the depths, exploring what has already been lost.<br/>
There was a sign next to a building that said:<br/>
“WELCOME TO EMBRYO”<br/>
Seraph then found a book underneath his feet. He picked it up and attempted to read it. He trembled like a yeti under stress, and dropped the book. It was a comic that depicted one of the most controversial messages ever displayed, and was responsible for the creation of Embryo. Suddenly, the book rose up and stuck to Seraph’s chest. He picked it up and suddenly it said “Welcome.”<br/>
He dropped the book in shock and it just levitated. Just what is up with this anomaly?<br/>
“Stay calm, we’re gonna need you for this mission. Follow my directions so that we can calmly prepare you for your next assignment...”<br/>
Seraph was too afraid to talk. All he simply did was walk towards the large crossroads, when suddenly...<br/>
“Read the 3rd page. Then you’ll understand the purpose of our ritual...”<br/>
“I-I wasn’t notified of a ritual, n-no I wasn’t. Totally w-wasn’t at all...”, Seraph said.<br/>
“I may have said too much...”<br/>
The book then disappeared into a wall, depriving Seraph of his only source of communication.<br/>
“Hello?”<br/>
He then looked around the crossroads. Left, right, behind, in front. He only saw a door marked “Zygote”. He went in, and saw nothing but a wall that recalculated pi to the 270th digit.<br/>
“Let’s see. That’s 270 digits. 30 times 6 is 270. 270 days is 9 months. Average gestation period for a regular person: 9 months. Where are we headed next, a chapter that’ll break my back?”<br/>
The book levitated behind him and spoke quiet words to him.<br/>
“The entire operation was about breaking YOUR back.”<br/>
Notably, the book’s voice was that of Clarence...<br/>
[PRO-CHOICE]<br/>
Seraph was transported to the last part of the 3rd depth of Hell, Fetus. He decided to take a crack of exploring it all, and the first room he came across was, in fact, the same exact room from the book.<br/>
Except it was glitching WILDLY.<br/>
So wildly, in fact, that Seraph almost couldn’t stand. Cadence was behind the couch bleeding profusely. “It’s the kind of wound that won’t heal.”, he said.<br/>
Seraph’s fur color started greying as he realized that the room corrupts those that stay inside of it for too long. It only got worse once Pandora’s Box showed up. No matter how hard Seraph tried to capture it, it would only sink into the walls and turn the room into a much worse concoction. He lifted Cadence on his shoulders.<br/>
“What brought you here?”, The box asked Seraph in a language so foreign there are no symbols for it yet.<br/>
“I wanted to obtain something. I wanted to perform something daring to raise his confidence up.”, Seraph answered in the same language.<br/>
The box then attempted to destroy the room with Seraph and Cadence in it, and in response, Seraph grabbed the Box, barely able to hold on.<br/>
After a psychedelic display of a glitching room, Seraph and Cadence were warped to the second part of Fetus, which initially appeared to be a long hallway. A mysterious entity attempted to get behind Seraph and cut him open, but Cadence, upon waking up, had none of that and dispatched the enemy. As it turns out, the enemy was a part of the mysterious Gray Team, led by a man known as The Fool.<br/>
As Cadence and Seraph exited the hallway, it was revealed that the part of this ghastly location west of Violation’s habitat was coated in gray anti-matter. “If this place makes you act strange, tell me.”, Cadence assured Seraph. The Fool had taken over this location before the two ever got here. Along the way, 5 demons Abstract Figures were parked on the wall, their spider legs being half the size of Violations.<br/>
Suddenly, Seraph’s outline began convulsing as he suddenly fell to the ground, unable to move. Cadence began carrying HIM as so.<br/>
“Those inquiring of the Fool will have to stand by as the ritual remains processed.”, one of the Figures says in the language that Pandora’s Box used.<br/>
“You have a really broken speech pattern. But I do want to know where the Box is.”, Cadence said in that language.<br/>
“This landscape is not compatible with those of a lower disposition. Do you--”<br/>
At that, Seraph threw himself off of Cadence, pulled out a red broadsword from nowhere and said “You guys are blocking the door. Let me in NOW!”. He cut one of the Figures in half, and as that monster lay bleeding, the other monsters came crawling out of the wall. Seraph, however, kept cutting them all down. One by one, those Figures never stood a chance against someone properly prepared against such a situation.<br/>
After that battle, Seraph was so tired that he initially sat there catching his breath. However, out of nowhere, Seraph ran towards the door that used to be guarded so well. Cadence didn’t even see his sudden speed coming. “If it kills me, so be it. I’ll travel through all of the walls and see ALL of the panels! Even if it DOES kill me!”<br/>
Seraph ran through the next hallway, being viciously zapped by panels on the wall as he does so. He had known of the work of the Fool for all this time, and now that he (or rather the Scientist) got a first-hand look at his most-well known creation, he had slowly come to regret performing such a dangerous experiment.<br/>
Seraph soon became too tired to even walk from all that running. That’s when Clarence walked to him with a dagger in hand, hoping to kill him there to start the ritual.<br/>
“It was here that I knew you’d stay...”<br/>
He brandished his knife, but Seraph caught his arm, blocked two punches, then caught him with a left hook. Unfazed by this, Clarence continued trying to land a good hit on Seraph, but his sheer reaction time prevented it from happening. Eventually, Clarence did jab him in the right place with the dagger, and he then said the words that hit Seraph right where it landed:<br/>
“I’m the Fool they told you about. By no means stupid, are you and I. Having created this place to store my creation – my most profound creation – until the end of time, my study has only been interrupted by one person. Someone as daring as you really ought to learn a better lesson...”<br/>
“What was all of that “don’t go near the box or it will kill you” thing?”<br/>
“T’was an act. I knew about the box, heck, I created it to begin with and knew that it would cause an abstraction like this. That’s why I never saved you from the metal pool. The book, the Box, the pool, the Gateway, Hell itself, and even the cities you found yourself in are all my creation.”<br/>
Clarence left Seraph to die while Seraph tried to cope with his wounds. Seraph made a getaway by teleporting back to Extratone, and when Clarence came back to pick up his body, he was gone.<br/>
15 MINUTES LATER<br/>
Seraph came crawling back to Vita’s place, still wounded.<br/>
Vita: “Someone’s had a bad da--”<br/>
Vita: “No. No. No. That did NOT just happen. Where WERE you?”<br/>
Seraph: “I was literally in hell trying to find out the mystery of this little gem right here.”<br/>
Seraph gives Vita the gemstone that was contained in Pandora’s Box.<br/>
Vita: “Let me guess, the Fool messed you up down there? How’d you even pick up this little trinket here in the firs--”<br/>
Seraph: “Long story. Right now, all I know is that the Fool is about to perform a ritua---”<br/>
Vita, in a blind rage, got up and retreated out of his house.<br/>
Vita: “WHAT KIND OF RITUAL?! I seriously need to give that man a piece of my mind.”<br/>
He dashed out of Extratone, into Hell, armed only with his Yoyo, his Affinity Cards and his new powers as Twisted Soul.<br/>
He made it to Fetus, went inside the building leading to the second part, and ripped open the material covering a door leading into a room known as Pro-Choice.<br/>
It was a grey room covered in blood. It resembled an apartment, and was neatly set up – if it wasn’t for the blood it would actually be hospitable. In the middle of the room stood one Abstract Figure. She was an Entropy strongly resembling the REAL Grey Team Leader; she was initialed “JH2016” in order to conceal her identity. Except this Figure, she too named Pro-Choice, was holding an axe twice her size. She looked stressed.<br/>
Vita: “You look strong.”<br/>
Choice: “Speak for yourself.”<br/>
Choice swung at Vita, but he ducked and replied with a yoyo combo. She teleported out of the way, but Vita swung his yoyo and hit her from behind. Being surprised at this, Choice’s swings started aiming at Vita’s yoyo, but Vita would always dodge and crouch. Choice’s axe was HUGE;<br/>
A Viking would probably take interest at such a gigantic weapon. Regardless, the battle had a predictable outcome. Swing after swing was no match for an interchangeable gun that had three different owners so far; it could teleport to each user when they needed it. (Note that Vita doesn’t use his sword here; it’s weaker than his yoyo but it actually does cutting damage as opposed to blunt force damage, allowing it to damage certain enemies more efficiently.)<br/>
Vita fired all of the shots he could, but mysteriously, Choice took no damage. “Not sinful at all...?!”, he exclaimed.<br/>
So what he simply did was hit Choice with his yoyo several times, reel her over to him by wrapping her neck with the yoyo and then pulling on it, then he kicked her to the ceiling. As she fell down, Vita brandished a sword from one of his Affinity Cards and attempted to cut her in half. When she got hit, however, she didn’t even get a scratch. Vita was confused about this, then enraged as he just attempted to kick her out of the window. She just grabbed his foot and said:<br/>
“The Fool does not deserve this treatment.”<br/>
Vita, still enraged, forcibly removed his foot from her hands and said: “Why not?!”<br/>
“I know he’s done some bad things in the past, like build Hell, create his Figures and create the book from Pandora’s Box, but you have got to give him some kind of credit.”<br/>
“Tell me ONE good thing he did.”<br/>
“He created another book that spawned an entire pristine white castle. A literally crystal-clear castle. It would be the most glorious thing ever seen to you if you weren’t so rash about it. Just stop being so angry about him already...”<br/>
Vita exited the room, suddenly as calm as a sleeping lion. A few steps later, he meets “NW2016”’s entropy, Pro-Life. He also replies with the same spiel as Vita starts running: “It won’t harm you to at least check out everything but what he’s known for, will it? After all, that’s not the only thing that he’s known for...”<br/>
“Yeah, he performed horrible rituals just to get people’s names on his wall. Those names have been slandered as works of his that have gotten mangled over time. Now is there ANYTHING redeemable about this man at all?!”, Vita angrily explained.<br/>
“There is.” Clarence had returned from dealing with Seraph. He saw Vita there and wanted to know if he could make amends with him.<br/>
“Unfortunately, Vita, there are some good and bad sides with me. I’m sure you represent the horrible, wicked side of your group, the Unified Coalition of Mammals (UCM for short) quite well. Isn’t that why you<br/>
refused to treat me nicely? Is it a fear of losing your two-favorite people?”<br/>
Vita was so staggered by this that he considered not attacking Clarence at all. However, remembering that he created the place where he stands, Vita pulled out the Sinful Shell and shot at him rapidly. Clarence wasn’t even harmed. In fact, he didn’t even bear to dodge the bullets.<br/>
“I am not a sinful person. I just look the type because I separated the Miracle Couple that ONE TIME. Look, if you’re going to stop me because of a book, I tell you it will not end well. Just continue about your day. It’s no big deal. After all, it’s not I have two more of these on the way...”, he said before brandishing the book that he made with Pandora’s Box. The revelation that Clarence was going to make another two of these hit Vita harder than usual...<br/>
“Nah, just kidding. Book 2 is already on me. (Holds it up) See? Now you don’t--”<br/>
Vita smacked Clarence with his yoyo so hard that even the Pros could feel that. Vita, still in Twisted Soul form, rushed at Clarence with Crushing Soul Panic, but Clarence just grabbed Vita mid-lunge and separated his Twisted Soul from Vita himself. Clarence then crushed it, sent Vita back to Extratone, sealed up Hell, and merged it with Castle Lovely to purify it. Clarence had created a true utopia and Vita would never be there to see it all because he saw a certain man the wrong way.<br/>
On the other hand, Violation was forced to move his habitat right next to Extratone in order to have a place to live. The result is that it looks less hellish than usual and lighter and airier. Perfect for Violation’s transformation into a being of pure light.<br/>
[CASTLE LOVELY – ABORTED BACK COVER]<br/>
When Seraph got there, however, Clarence was sitting in his throne, about as white as the rest of the place.<br/>
“Oh yeah, I forgot you existed, too. Because the ritual couldn’t be done, I had to merge these two places. I mean, doesn’t it look great?”, Clarence said.<br/>
“Well, what happened to Vita?”, Seraph asked.<br/>
“He’s a manipulator! There’s no telling when he will start a second ritual! I mean, I have proof!”, Vita yelled when he came in the door. He was holding a photo album of the worst things that Clarence had compiled.<br/>
Clarence: “Where did you get tha--”,<br/>
Vita: “Look! He did ALL of this!”<br/>
Among the pictures he showed Seraph was, if you bypass the crazy amount of nudity in at least three of the photos, was:<br/>
1. The Miracle Couple getting split apart, spawning their Entropies. (The couple got better, after a couple of days investigating alternate dimensions) Clarence can be seen smiling with glee as the back of the card wrote: “This can happen to real couples! Embrace it!”<br/>
2. One of the rituals he had performed, which involves some Figures dancing around a portal-like red energy circle with some entities on the podium. Several of these entities were characters from completely different universes. They were being sacrificed in order to fill up Clarence’s personal photo album.<br/>
3. Upon finishing his second book with help from Pandora’s Box, an unstable rift in the space-time continuum had occurred. Frozen in that experiment involving messing with alternate realities was a very enraged Vita attacking Clarence with some kind of energy radiating from his outline. As outlines differ with the art style of how certain people make their content, Vita’s (abstract lines colored with browns and greys reminiscent of detailed digital art) clashed with Clarence’s, which was a muted, grey color scheme. They were both Soul Creators, those gifted with a special power. That power was to make anything they draw come to life as Affinity Cards (or in Clarence’s case, Entropies, since his method was less than ethical).<br/>
Seraph was so confused by this that he no longer regarded Clarence as a good guy, but there was something in him that shined through.<br/>
Vita: “Seraph, what are you doing?”<br/>
Seraph: “First of all, I see another person within Clarence. He’s a real good guy. He was supposed to be the next Entropy, but I have decided to prevent that from happening.”<br/>
Vita: “Clarence is not--”<br/>
Seraph then took one of Vita’s Affinity Cards and pointed at Clarence with it. The card aimed a beam at Clarence’s heart, extracting the true ruler of Castle Lovely, Justin, out of him.<br/>
“Well, what have I--”<br/>
Vita (still surprised that Seraph managed to pull that off): “Right behind you, buddy.”<br/>
Justin turns around and sees Clarence, now in the middle of his transformation into a great Entropy, known as the Separator. “Ah yes, I knew you’d see through my manipulations perfectly... It would be an honor if I repaid the favor.”<br/>
Justin: “I’m your past self, then. Right before you wrote the book that separated the Miracle Couple temporarily, I wrote one that had them stitch their relationship together, like it should be. I don’t know what caused you to have your name and create the one world-destroying cataclysmic event that would shatter--”<br/>
Separator: “Simple. I had only one motive in mind. I was trying to show how even a perfectly balanced and seemingly flawless couple can split apart over the harshest conditions. That is all.”<br/>
Vita: “You CREATED AN ALTERNATE REALITY to prove that the MIRACLE COUPLE can be SEPARATED?! I come from that side where not only did they keep their kids, but they also learned the truth about them and agreed to raise them!”<br/>
The whole room went dead silent. Seraph didn’t know that Vita was a Soul Creator. He also didn’t know that Vita and Separator were literally complete opposites of each other. He had reconsidered everything up to this point about what he knew of Vita. His Affinity Cards didn’t hold his family members, they held his creations. He was storing what he held dear in his cards, whereas Clarence was using them to cause more chaos (not to mention that Entropies are expendable, being that quantum theory allows for an infinite amount of realities, thus, Clarence could theoretically have an army of Entropies with him.) All by doing one thing to the Miracle Couple to cause them to split apart.<br/>
Justin: “That’s messed up.”<br/>
Vita glowed with a vibrant energy closely reflecting his art-style as a Soul Creator. The Separator also glowed, this time with his own art style. Vita was mostly brown and grey, while Separator’s were entirely grey. Their battle was legendary, as Separator used every attack he could feasibly come up with. Vita, however, actually fought with his outline, utilizing energy blows against the Separator. It chipped away his body, revealing the solid center underneath. Vita only enhanced this by summoning his creations through Affinity Cards, telling them to use their strongest attacks. When they did (from Faith’s ice bow firing an ice cruise missile to Benjamin using the force of a supernova to heavily damage The Separator’s body, to Amelia and Adonis combining together to rapidly hit The Separator’s body to the point where none of the gems surrounding the body were intact), Vita has one last order for Seraph.<br/>
“The guns. Fire them.”<br/>
Vita and Seraph aimed their Sinful Shells at Clarence simultaneously. When they fired their guns, Justin threw a dimensional restabilizer (an orb that fixes broken continuities) at Clarence. The combined force of the guns and the orb caused Clarence to cease to exist (at least in this dimension). The Scientist’s work was done, although Castle Lovely was still there at the end of the panic. Justin reclaimed his position, causing Castle Lovely to position itself beneath Extratone.<br/>
Seraph and Vita warped to Extratone, confident that their work was done.<br/>
[PROPHESY]<br/>
As Seraph was researching Della’s powers, Vita appeared to him to show him something new. As Seraph agreed to the request, they both entered Vita’s Creator’s Room (the place where Soul Creators make their stuff) and Vita told Seraph to read his bio.<br/>
“Gender: Female”<br/>
Seraph took a look back at Vita with surprise. Vita, grinning with glee, teleported on top of his desk and said: “Allow me to reveal the one who really has me.” He did a pose, and so a robotic entity sprung forth. She was made entirely out of outline, meaning nothing short of complete and total erasure could scratch her. She was leagues more powerful than the one she controls. Her name was Peachy.<br/>
“Outlines like her have to have vessels in order to thrive. She chose me after creating me in the Soul Canvas (a large, open network of Soul Creators that allow them to share their work), then started to control me using her own free will. She gave me free will as well, and we often use both of our mental powers to solve tough challenges. In case I do get lead astray, it goes back where it used to be when I am being controlled by Peachy. I’m perfectly aware of the situation and it bothers me none, because you know, no harm is being done here! After all, I<br/>
can summon this person when I want her to appear, and she controls me regardless of whether she’s there or not. Now dodging bullets seems a lot less impossible...”<br/>
“That’s a lot to work with, Vita.”<br/>
Being an Outline (an exceedingly powerful being, notably this one is so far the only Soul Creator), Peachy is equipped with unrivaled strength, durability, speed and precision. She can calculate the exact time something is going to happen, and it’s led the seemingly-fast-as-a-ninja Vita out of really bad situations (like taking serious amounts of damage). She is equipped with a ton of weaponry, including rockets, missiles, various ways to put debuffs on enemies including flash grenades, and even a scanner to detect Partials in an area.<br/>
On the other hand, this Outline seems to have been linked to Vita since day 1.<br/>
Meanwhile, there seems to be a strange occurrence happening with Roulette. For one, she can jump through Dimensional Portals seamlessly, and she fought a giant monster that she accidentally released into Extratone. Once she defeated it, she belted out: “That’s just training!”, and disappeared.<br/>
[SPEAK]<br/>
Allow me to introduce you to someone. She is an extra-powerful being, a 9-year old mouse named Marcy that acts not at all like a 9-year old.<br/>
In fact, while she was found in a garden, she warped out of there with a time-travelling skateboard and in the process of warping through time and space, obtained untold powers that are said to be capable of warping reality itself. She knew when to limit these powers, however, and only chose to use their full potential when taking on someone who could erase the universe.<br/>
She made her latest arrival when Seraph was performing a variety of experiments under a persona called “Silver”. He had taken a nice-looking aircraft that had just finished a mission in an alternate reality, he called it the Wild Snail because of its superior firepower and for possessing the ability to equip a special artifact. It was called the Perceiver Gear. The Gear could use Affinity Cards to the best possible effect; there were no slowdowns or hesitations to worry about.<br/>
He had previously done an experiment where he inadvertently summoned a large machine with 3 sections known as “Ina”. Marcy deleted it before it could do anything, and attempted to chastise Seraph for it. His only response was “The force emitted from the Affinity Cards is not merely a sight. It is a feeling that radiates through the System, letting memories both real and false flow through the Confined Mall so that it can thrive. Every bit counts. All of the advertisements, floors, theatrical rooms... Yes. The memories of the System are what this mall is dependent on. I’ve seen it go.”<br/>
At one point in the experiment, Seraph used a few Affinity Cards – perfect replicas of the fabled Justifiers – to try to find the strongest one around so that he could take on the missions known as “Split Halves”. Marcy knew full well that those missions were dangerous, mostly because of the units that fell during those raids. Regardless, Seraph took the Gear and the Snail for a spin, along with the Justifiers. Marcy went with him.<br/>
SPLIT HALVES MISSION LOG:<br/>
1. Enter the Cloudy Expanse, the first part of Layer 7. Smooth sailing, with a little pressure from enemy ships. The Boss Unit(s) were a bit of a pushover, if the bullet patterns meant anything at all. Notably, The System returned back much less negative feedback after “Skin Filament” was done for.<br/>
2. Enter the Alternate Mall Ruins, situated above water partially. Another, more powerful ship appeared designated “Dark Thunder”. It shot some powerful bullets at nearby enemies before using both of the side units shielding it to fire a powerful laser. Although Seraph had never seen anything like it, he was convinced that this unit was related to the System somehow. He kept pressing forward, let Dark Thunder destroy a wall of turrets, and watched as it DEMOLISHED the next boss unit, Scaffold.<br/>
Another unit, Raggedy Scaffold, emerged from it and fired bullets in a heated frenzy. Dark Thunder was not around for this one, neither was Marcy. Thus, this unit took a lot longer to defeat than usual. Negative feedback from the System decreased even more. “Silver”'s experiment was working.<br/>
3. The last leg of Layer 7’s first half was situated in the Inner Depths. Three more units, “Pink Cloud”, “Blue Tornado”, and “White Dragon” flew by, but only Pink Cloud stayed by to handle matters. It pretty much stormed right by the competition, steamrolling the enemy units like they were nothing. If Pink Cloud’s defeat of “Focus Shell Dreamwork Bombardier” proved anything, these new “Spectre-class” units arrived for the mission shortly before Seraph and his Wild Snail did and got more work done than he would ever manage to. While he congratulated them for this, they were almost never seen again and as a result he felt left out of the true potential of Layer 7... until Marcy told him about Layer 7’s other half, which may have the key to what Seraph is looking for...<br/>
[TIED BY HEAVEN ITSELF]<br/>
The Scientist. He is the strongest entity in the universe of Metaphysical. His wisdom of the Mental Cycle is unrivaled and he possesses all of the Affinity Cards he needs to get things done. Joining him is his assistant, Ryouta Mako (Ryouta is her last name.). She’s an animal just like the<br/>
Mental Cycle inhabitants. Thus, this isn’t the real Lowercase. However, the Scientist can see the real Lowercase through a special method. This isn’t what we’re covering, though. In the past, The Scientist attempted to use the Master Disc (and later on the Platinum Disc) to uncover its secrets.<br/>
Scientist: “I believe that this little artifact here contains the total sum of all of the knowledge we need. If we can just crack it open without harming the contents inside, maybe we can peer into the inner details and gather exactly what we need to make that mall happen in the reality we’re building our foundation on.”<br/>
He has embarked on countless adventures in Lowercase A1 with Mako through the help of his unflappable strength and defense. He conducted an experiment with every Affinity Card he had, and when Mako got him to fight against a bunch of robots, The Scientist came out on top, having suffered not a single scar. He was like a superhero. His powers could carry him through a war.<br/>
At one point, he conducted an experiment involving both him and Mako. He told her to gather all of the Affinity Cards near her, which depicted Vita’s creations (some have the Miracle Couple on them too). She loaded them into the Reality Shifter, and let it fly with The Scientist still in it. He landed in Lowercase C5. Lowercase C5 is a very expansive forest that is home to an otherworldly god-like bird-shaped figure known as the Boundless Angel. It went behind the Scientist, and with Mako’s voice, it said: “Is your experiment working?”. The Scientist could only respond with “Yes”, as he was surrounded by the outlines of Vita’s<br/>
creations. Ones that perfectly emulated the Split Halves. The Split Halves could be anything, from the aircrafts from the appropriately named mission that Seraph undertook to the individuals connected to the System, the ones that the outlines of Vita’s creations brought forth to The Scientist. A void was then formed that enveloped the forest, a smooth tunnel from left to right. The Scientist conversed with the outlines, those who invoked the Split Halves from their appearances alone. The System allowed him to see the Split Halves from the void...<br/>
They are kids. Cousins of whoever the System might be, being accompanied by their authority figures. They are wearing the colors associated with their metaphysical aircrafts.<br/>
“I see black for the small boy, white for [The System’s] older sister, pink for the boy’s sister, blue for the aunt and... what’s this? Is that red? I didn’t think the Wild Snail had a role to play here—Oh no.”<br/>
Mako then withdrew The Scientist from the Reality Shifter, causing him to briefly panic while saying:<br/>
“The System! It’s a member of a family!”<br/>
[MOVESET LOG #2]<br/>
Roulette’s powers include the average powers you’d expect from someone super-powered, but she’s also got an Outline of her own that’s actually connected to her life-force.<br/>
She also has 4 gems of different shapes (sphere, cube, rectangle, prism) that continually swirl around her in battle. These gems can do anything from firing orbs of energy to creating a vacuum effect. With those orbs, she can control the battle field with as many as over 2,000 powers obtained from 4 orbs. You also have to take in account of gem mixing; each gem has 27 different effects that can be activated at will. Combine this with her Outline granting her immunity to most forms of damage, and she is clearly a force to be reckoned with.<br/>
She can travel through dimensions, and each creature she encounters there does not give her a hard time. In fact, she improves her capability in combat with each monster she fights. It must be the gems.<br/>
[MEET THE FRIENDS]<br/>
Just a day prior, Seraph found himself inside of a community filled with people just like him. The other half of Layer 7 was a neon-colored labyrinth preceding an even more neon-colored city-like area that<br/>
actually contained part of the Soul Canvas. Thus, Seraph got the chance to not only be outfitted with armor that wouldn’t be out of place in TRON: Legacy, but he also got to meet people connected to Vita/Peachy and Roulette (all rabbits):<br/>
Vicky (cream-colored fur with brown markings): Having once been to military school, she excels in firearms and tactical weapons. Never lost a fight ever.<br/>
Cobalt (A lighter blue color than cobalt): Her psychic powers can be used to detonate entire buildings, so she tends to keep it under control. However, she doesn’t hold back when sufficiently angered, so those in a 50ft radius around her when she’s fighting typically clear out.<br/>
Apricot (same color as Vicky, but a bit darker): Owns way too many sci-fi weapons to count. Since she can count in binary, though, she can count the ones she DOES wield with one hand. On the other one, though, are the ones she just collects.<br/>
Symphony (completely white): She not only fights with metaphysically created music notes, but any instrument around her can be played masterfully by her without her even touching it. Her musical power is boosted when around instruments, so an entire band is a force to be reckoned with.<br/>
While there, Seraph greeted the Soul Creators as they welcomed him with open arms. It didn’t come without conflict, as a noted griefer entered the room guns ablazing. As Seraph showed his expert combat skills, the girls were impressed at how well he could handle conflict. He sent the attacker out of the room, and the girls then willingly joined his cause after he told them what was going on in the other layers (and Extratone.)<br/>
They were added to the Sentinel project (though they had to balance that and being there for the Soul Canvas).<br/>
Seraph has bigger fish to fry, and it’s not on the upcoming Layer 8.<br/>
It’s actually on the last leg of Layer 7.<br/>
[BEACON]<br/>
There are several layers to selfishness. Each layer is represented by a different node that is very sensitive to a helpful deed. Those nodes hate it. Let’s see here, we have<br/>
1. CPU the Hateful<br/>
2. Offensive the Prideful<br/>
3. Defensive the Seclusive<br/>
4. CPU2 the Aggressive.<br/>
The 4 nodes, united by the Babylon Defense System guarding the Violent Spirit, Superbia. (There were two other Violent Spirits that were defeated in the past, Mershael and Agonael.)<br/>
Yet, with the help of The System of all things, Seraph managed to tear into that security system and completely destroy it, as well as turn Superbia into a flesh-colored abomination tearing through his angelic skin. It was caused by his inner thoughts clashing into themselves, turning his self-centered interior inside out and revealing him as the monster he really is.<br/>
5 hours later, Seraph found himself inside of a giant pentagram....<br/>
Okay, let me clear this up. A Partial named Cadenza appeared to him and prevented him from getting out. Layer 7 was barricaded thanks to her, and it is due to her influence that Seraph was scared out of his mind; even the System couldn’t bail him out of this one. Her<br/>
transformation not only revealed her as the combination of the old continuity, all of the things that the System was known for doing, all that bad stuff – it folded on itself, creating an abomination that came back from the dead to terrorize the System, as well as to remind it of its sins.<br/>
Starbow.<br/>
An error message pops up on a grassy field. More of them spawn, and eventually the entire interface begins to spiral around. From this, the screen is made a 3-dimensional flat surface. As a dinosaur walks around on it, it is suddenly stabbed by a large needle that came from a satellite. The satellite explodes with 90’s graphics, 3D models from the 90’s gaming era spiral around in space, and a CD spins from the right side of the area. It lays itself down, and on its surface is a phrase “The framework is the best part”. The CD generates floating music notes. The notes float down to the surface of the “earth”, and they land on a hot-air balloon that then melts into 5 different colors. Each color begins to fade until it is overlaid with a blurry glass overlay. A tidal wave then rushes over it, and some crabs land on that overlay. As we zoom in to one of the crabs’ eye, a turntable’s vinyl is spinning around. On that vinyl is an owl. The owl flies out of the vinyl, begins to transform into an Ibis Partial, which Della kicks around like a soccer ball in Extratone and launches into the stratosphere with a projectile. “When’s the next break?”, she is heard saying.<br/>
“Are you done messing with me?”, Seraph asked Cadenza.<br/>
Suddenly, a mysterious being grabs Cadenza and tackles her into Extratone – it was Cadence, having ran all the way to Layer 7 to find Seraph in here with an entity more than twice his size.<br/>
Through a mysterious turn of events, Seraph is then warped into the Red Zone, which is The System’s dark side. It has floating island versions of The System’s darkest secrets, and Seraph is determined to find and receive answers....<br/>
[RED ZONE, PART 1]<br/>
The first room contained three things:<br/>
1. Three individuals in suspended animation, appearing to talk to each other. One of them’s an Umbreon-looking person that stands tall and wears a ring around her waist. Another one appears to be the System’s old avatar, interacting with them. He appears to look similar to the Scientist, except he wears all blue. The third person is actually a unique-looking anthropomorphic<br/>
animal with a broom, maid costume, and red fur. Her name is Teyzirah, and she wears 4 different amulets that depict 4 characters of a similar background. One of those characters is Teyzirah herself, but smaller.<br/>
As Seraph walks down the room, the entire room changes in appearance, and as the room begins ot be covered with some dark matter....<br/>
2. The suspended scene now contains The System’s old avatar, Teyzirah, and “Rixa” arguing with each other. They are actively fighting each other with their selected weaponry, and Teyzirah’s amulets seem to be glowing.<br/>
“Teyzirah and Rixa had some issues being together. One day, they “were never parted that night” so to speak, and Miles found out about it. Through his dented sense of justice, he went to Teyzirah about it and borderline scolded her about it. Then Rixa found out, and they ended their fellowship so violently, it created a massive crater in the rift of time. This moment created history.”<br/>
As the mysterious narrator reads their piece, Seraph continues walking down the room and the walls got red, as if blood stained. In suspended animation, the following scene is depicted:<br/>
3. “Miles” is walking away from Teyzirah, who is on the ground, missing both of her arms, one of her legs, and covered in<br/>
bloodstains. Her weapon is broken, all but one of her amulets have shattered, and Rixa has flat out been killed (by Miles). The sheer amount of bloodshed Miles caused them has caused him to be labeled as a demon, further casting him aside from the community he so loved.<br/>
“Rixa was later reborn as Tamashii, but Teyzirah never really fully recovered from her injuries, both physical and mental. Her amulets later split into three different individuals that saw Teyzirah’s condition and cared for her for a few more months. At least, until the Great Hurricane happened. It would change them and the way they would see the world forever.”<br/>
Seraph: “Just who are you, anyway?”<br/>
“I’m the would-be mediator, Maledictus Luter.”<br/>
The Otter Partial slinked in from behind the wall and confronted Seraph.<br/>
“You’re not going to go see Miles. You’re going to stop right here and see your way out of this.”<br/>
Seraph: “Nobody’s going to stop me from giving that old man a piece of my mind!”<br/>
Luter, being an otter, is unnervingly strong. His “fur” (Partials substitute conventional fur with colorful abstract lines that reverberate around their bodies) prevents most attacks from dealing more than single-digit damage to him, and his projectile attacks hit harder than a tanker truck carrying nothing but dynamite. He also has an attack where he pulls anything close to him closer by. When he’s done with that, he fires a near-undodgeable ray of energy from his body, which guarantees that anyone hit by it won’t be coming back because it takes off a massive chunk of health.<br/>
After all is said and done, Luter vanishes into the air (that’s how most Partials die) and the door opens, revealing the second room.<br/>
[RED ZONE, PART 2]<br/>
Seraph, upon entering that room, saw a monstrous entity descend from a vertical room. The monster, bathed in appendages, opened itself up and spawned a monstrous... thing that grew armor on its head and<br/>
body. It resembled a wolf, but it had no eyes, bones, nerves or brain. Despite this, it was intelligent.<br/>
“Silver, you MONSTER...”<br/>
Seraph went and hid himself behind a door and locked it, unaware that it sits on Layer 7 of the Confined Mall. The monster, labeled “Savage”, attempted to get out of that room, only to bump into some walls along the way due to the low traction of the floor. When it finally got out...<br/>
Tiffany was there on the 6th floor, on surveillance duty when the Savage jumped out and attacked her. She dodged, hit it twice, threw it behind her with her staff, and pinned it to the floor with her foot. It’s thrashing about because it has no neck to speak of. One draw of Vertex later, and the Savage was cut in half. However, the body suddenly jumped up and body slammed her, knocking her to the floor. She didn’t bother getting up, because once the Savage rejoined its head with its body, it jumped at her, she took a swing at it with Vertex, and kicked it past the gap between the 6th and first floors. The Savage lay there in a pool of its own blood... and casually repaired its body with its utterly ridiculous healing factor. Two Savages can have up to 8 or even 16 offspring in a single litter. The monsters grow into adolescents while still in the womb, and they are born pregnant. That means that they reproduce faster than aphids do and we already know that they are more fertile than rabbits. I say this because Seraph recently detected a horde of 1,711 of the things coming in from the hallway. Apparently, whoever summoned the thing must run a Savage Breeding program. That same<br/>
Savage, persistent as can be, made a very high jump from floor 1 to floor 6, lunged for Tiffany again... and got blown up by a very angry Della. “I’m fully ready to cause more of a mess today. Just when the fun was getting started in Extratone, every single last Partial disappeared and our commander told us to head towards this mall... Then I see these THINGS invading our lives down in the city that knows best. This is the kind of thing that must be stopped.” Razor was down below attempting to kill one of the things. He hit it multiple times, slammed it against a wall, kicked it up high when it attempted to bite him... it’s only when he used a charged-up Synergy punch did he realize “These things are weak to energy! The things will die if you hit it with an element!” Two floors up, Adonis heard this as he jumped on a clothesline, jumped off of it when a Savage attacked it, leaped on a desk and called on the power of his Outline. Savage after Savage was killed by his attacks, and as he leaped off of the desk, he was joined by Amelia, who said “Does someone need an extra helping?”, as she kicked a Savage up in the air, threw a lightning bolt at it and watched it be split in half. The two went looking for Vita, Faith and Ben when on the second floor, Marcy summoned herself to the Mall, clearly angry. “Does thou needeth my assistance?!” Two Savages leaped at her, she casually pushes them away with a tide that was seemingly made out of her environment that was immediately put back together once the tide subsided. The tide was like glass. After Marcy killed those Savages, she jumped on a pillar, climbed all the way to the fourth floor using a non-existent ladder, then glitched herself past a Savage when Faith rams it through with an iceberg spear, then turns it into a bow. Marcy then puts her finger to her head, sees three Savages parked on the walls, then tells Faith: “Don’t move.” As Faith halts herself, Marcy then twists the area’s walls like a revolving door, forcing the Savages to drop to the<br/>
floor. As they rushed Faith head on, she turns her bow into an oar made of ice, and freezes them all with each strike.<br/>
Seraph, holed up in the room still, he obtains the message from Razor, gets up, charges his body with energy, and punches the door open. The Savages that see them are dead before Seraph turns the corner in the hallway. Suddenly, a misty area clouds his vision and an angelic entity floats in the center of the area. “Don’t do this. You have no right to cause this much wanton chaos. You can’t go with the Grand Summoner. She’s about as mad as you are!”. “I’m not the mad person, she--”, Seraph answers, before he realizes that the angel wasn’t talking to him. Seraph gets an idea, and walks down the misty area. Razor is there, attempting to stop him. “Oooooooh. I’ll be riiiiiiiiight back!”, Seraph says before Razor even says anything. “What are you doing?” As Razor turns the corner, Seraph (who resembles The Scientist here for some reason) is shown over a clearly bloodied body. “I may not have done it on purpose....”, he says chillingly. “What’s going on here?”, Razor asks as a bunch of scenes from Seraph’s perspective have been shown to him, all involving senseless violence. One of those visions involves one of the Outlines going up against one of the Silver Halves. Razor, of course, was horrified by this, but what really kicked him was the way the mall looked. He used a device to view the place through the cameras, and the ads on the walls and banners were fading. “Seraph! The Confined Mall is falling apart! Are you sure you want the memory of the one thing EVERYONE knows about to fade? The System’s counting on us!”<br/>
Seraph turns around, wearing shades for no reason. As he pulls them off, he says: “I’m not helping you out.”. He has red eyes, something that clearly isn’t normal about him. “First the System, then you. What else is the Grand Summoner gonna take over next?”<br/>
Seraph took out his sword and started swinging at Razor. He misses a few times, but when Razor manages to grab hold of him, Seraph throws him to the ground and cuts him in half.<br/>
Razor only manages to survive this when Marcy revives him the very second he is killed. No longer in the Misty Area, Razor’s mind is FILLED with worry over the fact that two of the most powerful beings are currently under the Grand Summoner’ rule. At least everyone else knows what to do when a sharp whistle is heard from complete nowhere and all of the (still-alive) Savages (even the one that was fighting Violation in his knight form in the Theater) retreat to floor 7, run back towards where they came from, and huddle up in a corner.<br/>
“Everyone, we must head where Seraph is and reclaim our prized possessions. We’re running out of time, because when those banners and posters completely fade, they’re gone and the System is half dead.”, Razor says. “What about us?”, Vita said while teleporting himself to the Confined Mall. “We will be in a state of suspended motion, left to slowly fade away. Can’t let that happen to us!”<br/>
Razor and his group made the long trek up a few flights of steps to Floor 7, where the misty area cleared up and revealed the room to where the monster emerged from earlier.<br/>
[RED ZONE, PART 3]<br/>
“Hi, my name is Silver Blue. You may already know me as the Scientist. Seraph’s little persona there was actually a projection of me to him.<br/>
I wear mostly blue. Blue vest, blue pants with the fold pockets in them, blue shirt, I do all of the blue. When I made it to Layer 7 through Metaphysical Projection to find the crew that I was responsible for, I became a rabbit with – you guessed it – mostly blue colored fur. I mostly wandered around a place known as the Chaos Labyrinth both in search of my creations and in hiding from The Grand Summoner – she took Mako too but she’s doing fine. I saw a bunch of monsters down there, no big deal, but the kicker was this gigantic fat bunny...”<br/>
Silver was, in fact, confronting a beast known as the Fetish Guardian. Although its projectile patterns (this was in a top-down perspective, so those familiar with certain games may know where I’m headed) weren’t that bad, it couldn’t move, so it had to use slightly worse patterns as its health dwindled until it became but a mere shadow on the wall.<br/>
“Next room over, I encountered this being that claimed to be “The Fallen One”, turns out it was another fetish god or something. Killing him wasn’t too hard, all I had to do was simply dodge those straight lines he was conjuring and slide in-between the gaps of his room-filling projectile bursts. Really, he wasn’t that too bad of a guy. His true form as the Sinful Furnace, though, did kinda throw me off balance a bit. I do want to note, however that his hands were HUGE. Like the size of PT Cruisers or something. Real big grabbers. I swear I had to, like, do a baseball slide or something because you had to SEE what his attacks were like. He had a gigantic spear for a weapon that I see no evidence of turning into a snake or anything. When he thrust it at the ground, it became the size of those pillars you see in those facilities that hold up the building you’re in, if those didn’t exist the roof would crush you. Honestly. He did spawn some annoying monsters, but like all annoying monsters, they were offed pretty easily. I otherwise had no trouble with this guy--”<br/>
As it turns out, the Sinful Furnace can manipulate fire and he does so at an alarming rate. Since parts of the floor are made of a flammable substance, dodging the Furnace’s attacks becomes a bit of a challenge. Regardless, Silver destroyed the monster, hurled it the kind of distance that Olympic athletes throw at the discus or ball and chain event, and went on past that room into a place known as the Parasite Lair.<br/>
“Layer 7’s final area is where I finally met Razor and his friends, but it wasn’t without any challenge. Monsters of all kinds that looked like Lovecraft rose from his grave and started writing more books whose<br/>
monsters came to life started showing up from the walls, the floor, out of nowhere and even from the door I exited from. I’ll leave what we fought up to your interpretation, because our enemies were rather rough. Like an interdimensional WWE contest or something.<br/>
I have a pretty unique looking sword; I forget where I got it from but it’s pretty cool. Has water powers in it, too. I also carry the infamous Sinful Shell, the gun that can wipe villains off of the face of whatever universe the wielder is from. Just go ask Clarence what happened to him. Anyhow, my Echo, which I recently obtained just after meeting Razor, is a cat lady named Shelby. You may recognize her if you’re from the 80s or something. She has the power to shield her user from damage and reply up to eight-fold. Quite powerful, huh? She also apparently plays football in her spare time because she can tackle a person out of the way of an especially deadly attack, however if they’re injured, she carries them rather than harming them any more than they are. A guardian, but also quite nice.”<br/>
[LAYER 8: LANDMASS PARASITE]<br/>
First half of the story: Once the heroes make it out of Layer 7, they encounter Layer 8, a swirling dimension filled with eye-popping colors. Multicolored platforms line the area, and a gigantic dreadnought can<br/>
be seen in the background, with Seraph on it. Razor’s crew head towards the dreadnought and each split up to attack different portions of it, suddenly Seraph traps them all in a colored cage. Silver shows up and tell him to get out of there. Once Razor does so, Silver attempts to fight Seraph and snap him out of his funk. It doesn’t work the first time around because the Grand Summoner made him incorporeal, so Silver willingly lets himself die so that his alternate universe equivalent, Cross, can run through a variety of different areas in his world, warp to Layer 8, and activate the Blue Heart to revive Silver. Silver merges with Cross, fights Seraph to a standstill, and once his evil side’s legs are blown off, Silver decapacitates the clone. Following that, Seraph jumps to the cage to save his friends...<br/>
But he has another thing coming.<br/>
Seraph attempted a stunt where he would send off one of his Missionary Discs (specially equipped for only one section of the Social Firewall) to another area of the Firewall. The Disc got corrupted by a parasite called the Soul Scythe. Silver destroyed its spawn in one hit using a blaster, and went to Seraph, reprimanding him. It was already too late, as the parasitic disc retreated deep into Layer 8 and summoned a red portal. The portal was home to a gigantic monster known as the Landmass Parasite. It took Seraph by the hold and before he knew it, his likeness was spread between 4 different universes.<br/>
1. Seraph is successfully controlled by the parasite and he is able to control a creature known as the Hatred Wendigo. This is Luminary-A, where his entire crew are fighting not him, but the wendigo. Unfortunately, it’s sentient and is not willing to back off of Seraph without a fight.<br/>
2. Seraph is inside of a room (Luminary-B), with the black entrails surrounding him and even leaking out of the bed he sleeps in. Silver and Razor are in there attempting to force the parasite out with the Master Disc and its cousin, the Azure Disc. Attempt after attempt has ended in failure, however the two continue to try hard to remove it.<br/>
3. Seraph is in a hallway (Luminary-C), running away from the parasite, which is a giant, Lovecraftian squid-hybrid with many appendages. Eventually Seraph hides in a room by himself, with the parasite slowly creeping in, attempting to force him out of the room.<br/>
4. Seraph is in a theatre-looking environment (Luminary-D). Both the Grand Summoner and Silver speak to him. A glitchy multicolored blob is pulsating in front of Seraph, and it tells him mixed messages, ranging from motivational quotes to threats of demotivation and destruction.<br/>
All four of them work in harmony with each other, but the force of movement (combined with the section of the Social Firewall he accessed throwing death threats at him) caused Seraph to straight up vanish from Layer 8. He was seemingly gone. However, he still had a presence. Silver gained a device that allowed Seraph to still communicate from the Waking Memory. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t ready to give his presence to the world yet. “The second part of Layer 8 is the scariest, Silver. They’re not ready for us yet. They’re not ready to see us animals walking amongst the crowd of regular people.”, Seraph said. “People? Everyone’s an animal here in this world.”, Silver reassured. “The Grand Summoner is not from here. She is from a place filled with utterly despicable people. That’s the area that I threw the Missionary Disc to. I know it was an idiotic decision, but I knew the waters had to be tested. Now the Disc itself needs to be shattered. I know where to find it.”, Seraph said.<br/>
Silver, and only Silver, went inside the dreadnought, fighting enemies with his sword as he went along. He had gone through 4 different areas all filled with Partials before finally confronting the Parasite Disc, wrapped in black symbiote. None other than Marcy came back to show this disc who’s boss. It had pretty good stats, but it was put off by one flaw: Target the black webs, and it goes down in quite literally three hits. Marcy went towards the defeated disc and snaps it, causing the Landmass to disappear, and for some reason Aptitude to suddenly show up at Layer 8 saying “You should have SEEN what had happened at Layer 3!”, before being met with silence.<br/>
Now that that’s over, the heroes come to the conclusion of their long journey.<br/>
[LAYER 8: FINAL TEST OF ENDURANCE]<br/>
Uralan Partials – a manifestation of a society that doesn’t understand certain traits of some people. They writhe around uncontrollably, their power leaking out with every step. These literal black hearts know not right from wrong, and thus, they will bite like a king cobra.<br/>
Ebireka Partials – Those that hate because their attitudes are tangled up in what they call an escape from reality. Their wicked ways will influence those that stand in their path the worst way possible.<br/>
Welcome to the Grand Trine Mall, this colorful haven will surely keep you company for as long as the Grand Summoner can hold her patience. The Partials you will meet here come in many different varieties.<br/>
Rabbit Partials, Fox Partials, Bear Partials, and Wolf Partials we went over before. However...<br/>
Hawk Partials: They fly in the air and peck at the ground. Occasionally, they may scratch the ground, creating a wave of dirt in front of it that also inflicts damage.<br/>
Lion Partials: The females will actively attack an opponent, using bites, scratches and special abilities while the males will stay back, heal the female and occasionally use a high-level ability, like a hail of comets. These Partials are always seen in pairs.<br/>
Seal Partials: These seals are based on harp seals, so their disarming allure can distract one from their devastating ice attacks. Rumor has it that it can summon an iceberg when low on health. The iceberg freezes opponents on contact and can deal a heavy amount of damage.<br/>
Shark Partials: These sharks can not only shoot laser beams from their eyes, but they can also tackle and bite opponents, dealing deceptively high amounts of damage. They are weak to sharp objects, but they counter this by using an attack known as “Delta Force”, where they trap an opponent in a cage, then ram into that cage multiple times dealing superior amounts of damage.<br/>
Dragon Partials: Only seen on Layers 5 and up, these monstrous reptiles breathe fire, fire orbs from their claws, scratch and tear the ground up, and fly around with their wings. That combined with their tendency to whip their tail around and knock people back, makes them a fearsome opponent to face.<br/>
Elephant Partials: Simply put, size is everything. Their trunks can slam opponents to the ground and knock them back, their stomps can bury opponents into the ground, and they can even summon more elephants. Did I mention that they can take a lot of damage and deal a lot of damage?<br/>
Vulpes Cantus: A superboss hidden in Layer 6, this Fox Partial possesses many strong attacks including fire/ice/electricity manipulation, a floorhugging wave of energy that knocks people back, way too many ways to fire (really fast) projectiles, and even a meteor summon that affects half of the arena. She is a true force to be reckoned with, and is said to be the manifestation of a wicked woman whose concept of recreation is thrown completely off. She thinks of nobody but herself, and she particularly seeks to belittle one guy just to get her way. Regardless, despite her many strengths, the Affinity Correction should be your best bet here.<br/>
Silver and his crew had found a corrupted, multicolored version of the Confined Mall, where the banners, ads and posters were completely different than usual. “This must be the dark side.”, he comments. Nevertheless, they continue up the layers, continuing to fight Partials along the way. There were only 4 people in the crew (Silver, Razor, Vita and Roulette), since the other ones were able to be summoned through Affinity Cards to help out temporarily. This makes it so that each team member doesn’t have to be a burden to the crew by just being there without a purpose. Each team member has a purpose to serve.<br/>
Notably, Layer 7’s dark hallways are gone, replaced by an entryway to Layer 8... blocked by a particularly strong Dragon Partial.<br/>
Silver and Vita took the initiative while Roulette and Razor stayed behind to support the heroes that were fighting. Vita kept using his Creation Cards (a Soul Creator’s Affinity Cards that allow them to summon whatever they make) while Silver brandished his sword, kept his distance, and made sure to pass around the Affinity Correction so that Vita’s attacks were boosted (he would always use his gun for that boost to increase his damage potential, since Dragon Partials are already weak to the Sinful Shell). The Affinity Correction is a damage multiplier that is passed around whenever a teammate makes a successful combo or delivers an especially strong hit. It boosts the other teammate’s attack power. When that teammate uses their sub-weapon (like for example Vita’s Sinful Shell), the Correction massively boosts the power of that weapon.<br/>
The Dragon, while it was tough, ultimately did not last that long in combat.<br/>
After the battle, the four went through the Layer 8 door in the Grand Trine Mall.... All of a sudden, the entire mall except that room vanished, and the four could only see the horror that was what the Grand Summoner has become. (And also, the fact that this room, unlike the others, was a simple room with blue-colored light shining through the window. It reminded Silver of the Confined Mall.)<br/>
A true savage, she was on all fours, bumping into the walls, speaking incomprehensible words from her mouth. “What happened to her?”, Razor asks. “I believe a crucial part of her ‘summoning ritual’ was halted when a Connection was made between two different entities—Look, I only know the fact that she summoned those Savages to disrupt that Connection. That is simply all.”, Silver replied.<br/>
“ ,ריבאה .ל ליכהל ידמ הברה יל םתאבה םכינשש המ !קיפסמ הז !ייה :םש אלל<br/>
האביר האמיץ, יתאחד איתי ויהפוך לאח ד !”<br/>
“Oh dear.”, Razor could only say.<br/>
This time, Silver and Razor took the initiative, Roulette and Vita could only assist by issuing high-level specials, like arena effects. Silver and Razor took turns dealing combo attacks, but the Grand Summoner had more up her sleeve than usual. Her special attacks were still pretty up there, and her physical attacks are no slouch either, no doubt due to her insanity. Razor made sure to keep her distance when her spinning attack, “Tornado Dance”, was active, due to the fact that it deals a great deal of damage. Silver could disable GS’ movement by stunning her with a status effect, so all the free hits could be dealt.<br/>
Unable to handle this extreme punishment, GS summoned the Astral Fence, pushing the heroes back towards the wall. A beam of light was summoned at her location, and a colossus, a gigantic polygonal golem, Ira, replaced her at the Fence. “Pierre! Let your name be hear--”, she<br/>
said before the black armored fellow almost effortlessly jumped out of the golem and said: “Please. As if you could control me like so? I’m gonna give you one more challenge right from behind me!”, before releasing another golem from the wall, Canon Blue. Pierre had nothing to do with either of these golems, but he had effectively trapped GS in hers. She was unable to get out, only confined in her own insanity and twisted selfishness made incarnate. Pierre, apparently not being a bad guy after all, just stood there and said “Watch this. They’re gonna kill each other.”<br/>
The Queen then descended from above, apparently freed from her bounds thanks to Pierre’s trick. “I’m going to reply the favor one day, you five.”, she said before disappearing into a layer far above where the protagonists could reach, watching from there.<br/>
Ira and Canon just kept throwing punches at each other, unable to think straight. Pierre opened up a portal that links to an empty void in the multiverse. He waited for those monsters to fall in so that they can both be destroyed by the endless black hole that contained every known reality. The two monsters wrestled and wrestled until Pierre remarked “This is taking way too long.” and drop-kicked Ira, causing her to fall into Canon Blue, making them both tumble inside the void.<br/>
The void almost relentlessly tore up the two forces of evil, forever ceasing them to be.<br/>
[THANKS FOR EVERYTHING]<br/>
“My name is Pierre. I’m not really a bad guy. Just short-tempered. I used to haunt the universe (Starbow) because I needed to change some things wrong with it, but I grew past that and changed into a more respectable person. I’m exceedingly strong; if there’s anything the regular heroes can do, I can do it too. The armor can protect against just about everything, which is what made me so fearsome in the past. As a hero, the myriad of problems that I can solve actually doesn’t seem all that challenging. Ira was a no-brainer for me. She didn’t realize that I wasn’t a force of evil, she only knew what she thought was right for herself.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Faint Cries for Help</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>[EVENT #01: The Cure to the Worst Disease]<br/>“A blue orb spins around a mysterious needle. This blue orb is not your friend. It is, in fact, my very next target.<br/>I saw where the thing was headed next while doing some studies when it suddenly flew past me, chasing several other orbs in its flight path. I only knew then to teleport to a large, wide-open arena where the four<br/>individuals landed next. The red ones were three important aspects of life: Responsibility, Awareness and Honesty. All three of them were met by a cloaked, scythe-wielding Partial called Tragedy. He absolutely tore the other three apart, not even getting so much as scratched by their attacks.”<br/>• ACTION SCENE #01: Tragedy Strikes the Hearts of Many<br/>Silver (Which we forgot to point out that he looks like this , as noted here, then jumped off of the platform he was on and said: “Those are not the aspects of life that you want to mess with.”. Tragedy replied with “Then<br/>what do you want me to do about it?”. After throwing out his blue sword and brandishing a golden blade made by the Gate of Prayer, Silver responded to that by revealing that he is, in fact, Angel. Sprouting wings and exponentially increasing his strength, he surprises Tragedy by absolutely wiping the floor with him in combat. Silver not having taken a point of damage throughout the beatdown, he then launches Tragedy through a portal to a dimension that eats him away when the Gate of Prayer is opened. “That’s an oddly specific way to go.”, Silver responds.<br/>“Listen up, you three! In order to keep him away for the longest time possible, we gotta flex our Prayer muscles and rely on that to surmount our toughest challenges. Without it, he will wreak havoc. Enough said.”, Silver tells the Three Aspects after reviving them.<br/>[EVENT #02: Habitual Disappearances]<br/>Silver got word the day before that Extratone had vanished. The entire city was gone, including the Sentinels. The recruits, like Della and the others, were allowed to escape to the Confined Mall. However, as the Sentinels said their goodbyes and faded to the ends of the universe, Extratone was fully replaced by the Confined Mall’s first floor....<br/>...Which also got a total makeover. Unlike the airport of the month before, it was this time a full-fledged cinema lobby with a literal red carpet, having ad posts for you-know-what, posters for entirely<br/>different movies (including “RH1973”, “SJ1996”, “AO2010”, and even “FF2009”.), and two different entrances; one in front leading to floor 3 (which also got a red redesign), and one leading to floor 2 on the right, which leads to a supermarket(?!) that may be familiar to those carrying membership cards. “This place is a work of art.”, Cobalt said. “I wonder if any of those theater rooms change their preference...”, Della thought. “This isn’t the Floor 1 I’m used to.”, Razor said. “On that note, I have to meet with Silver for an important meeting.” “What for?”, Marcy asks. “He is currently battling a powerful foe.”, Razor says before running towards Floor 3’s entrance before warping out.<br/>• ACTION SCENE #02: Envy<br/>Silver had used his Illusory Curtain to increase his power against Envy, the Avatar of Jealousy and Covetousness. The Illusory Curtain is an important tool Silver has in his arsenal that greys/inverts the color of the surrounding area to reveal anything that may not appear to the naked eye. He has detected crop circles, the reason why some machines malfunction, and even predicted disasters happening all before he even fought Envy. Envy was a hulking dude; he stood 6’1, that’s about Silver’s height. He also possessed abominable strength and toughness; Unlike the buff dudes in the movies that find themselves carrying guns as long as they are, Envy only has sheer strength to rely on. Thus, combined with his deceptively fast speed, made him a real challenge for Silver to take on.<br/>But all heroes need a helping hand.<br/>Razor appeared from a portal in the wide-open space that Silver and Envy were fighting on, and bulldozed Envy, throwing him to the ground. Silver decided to have a little fun with this by projecting the Illusory Curtain, allowing Razor and Envy to fall through the ground, tumble through a truly infinite flight of stairs, and fall into a building whose geometry was shifting around like a Rubik’s Cube. The two got into the kind of tussle that Neo would be proud of, before throwing each other around like pinballs against the building’s unstable foundation (strength doesn’t matter when reality itself is out to lunch and not coming back until the curtain is gone.). Razor had lots of opportunities to mess with Envy, including making him run in place, and boy did he make those chances worthwhile.<br/>Envy found himself running in place, then he was slammed into the wall behind him through Razor’s manipulation. This was followed by Envy being thrust through different locations in the Metaverse, including a world made entirely of diamonds, a world where various farm animals are constantly running, a world where everything is in 8-bit, a world consisting solely of red and black lines running about in the background, and even a world encased completely in ice; Envy was about to become an ice block before Razor used sheer friction combined with G-force to snap his neck with a quick thrust out of that planet, then inside the portal that Tragedy fell in the previous day.<br/>“That was fun, Silver. Did you see--”, Razor said when coming back to Envy’s arena (literally a grey football field, so when Silver used the Curtain, the field turned green).<br/>“Everything. I didn’t miss a single thing you did. That was impressive.”, Silver replied.<br/>[EVENT #03: Burning Justice / Ad mulierem ne quisquam]<br/>Silver and Pierre did an experiment with Tragedy in Layer 255. They both trapped him in a non-flammable cage after finding him in his true form, Nureon. Nureon was literally burning up because according to Silver’s vision of the real Lowercase, authority was delivering burning restrictions on a kid named “The Student”. “See, I’m that kid’s inner persona. Always peering into alternate realities just to see what goes in inside them. Here I am INSIDE one of those realities looking through his eyes to find out what was going on with Not-Zilla here.”<br/>As the heat inside the cage was turned up due to the warnings. “They DID say you couldn’t have fun until what, 4 days from now?”, Pierre said. This caused Nureon (means “rebellion” in the language of these monsters) to literally thrash around the cage, which prompted Silver to shrink the size of the cage down to the size of the actual monster (read: about the average length of two turtles), causing it to nothing but move its eyes as the heat reached its maximum through sheer pressure. The curtains were moved back as Nureon’s pain was so massive, it would influence the next mission altogether.<br/>• ACTION SCENE #03: It wants more than the woman<br/>Silver then took a trip to a wooden building on Layer 8 that seemed to be confined until he saw one of Luxuria’s Avatars (as a humanoid). “Do yourself a favor and tell me why you’re such a creep.”, Silver said while brandishing his sword. He was sent on this mission as a result of the Sentinel branding being moved to that of the main crew. Effectively, these guys are cops. The Avatar just turned around, said some unintelligible words, and promptly lashed out at Silver. This caused the cop to pull the Illusory Curtain over, engage in a short fistfight and slam it into the wall by pushing it with his sword. Silver then puts his hand on the ground, the floor starts twisting around like a clock, then it, the walls and the ceiling twists upward as a platform carries Silver up to a mysterious dimension whose background is made entirely out of twisting wood platforms. The avatar is on a similar platform, having projected its own Illusory Curtain earlier in the fight. “You too?”, Silver said before the avatar again tries to catch Silver off-guard. This being Silver, however, he just continues to repel the Avatar’s blows before eventually kicking it skyward and away. The avatar then turns into its monster form (Ernoan, means “(sexual) desire”), and uses one of its appendages inside of its gaping mouth to latch on to another gigantic, cube-shaped platform. It swings off of that and lands on another. “Are you seriously about to give me a hard time?”, Silver groaned.<br/>He then took the Sinful Shell, followed the monster to the platform it was on, then grabbed its mouth and held it wide open before he dodged its tongue, cut it off with his sword, then took the gun back up<br/>and shot it in the mouth multiple times. It didn’t seem fazed at first, until Silver let go and saw it limp backwards, seemingly stunned. Silver then took an energy bow, pulled it back, then let it fly. It caught Ernoan in the air and exploded, spilling his entrails all over the dimension.<br/>“Alright, I’ve had enough of this mayhem.”, Silver comments. He’s about to unfurl the Illusory Curtain, when he detects a huge SWARM of Ernoans coming at him. Silver frantically contacts the entire station at Layer 3 (which by now is a metropolis with a highway in it resembling that of Los Angeles, California. Cars are seen traveling past the station almost at all times, but it’s not currently known who drives them. Razor is there in his uniform (the classic black-on-blue vest combo, but slightly different, and this time the uniforms are one-size-fits-all), answering the phone.<br/>“What could be of assis--”, Razor is about to say.<br/>“This FREAK in Layer 8 has reinforcements!”, Silver screams, nearly causing Razor to drop the phone.<br/>Silver waits for a response, but all he could hear was the sound of the phone hanging up. He thought his own units were of no help, until Benjamin (of Vita’s card pack) came rushing in a ball of fire, destroying just about all of the monsters... Except for one, which CV-Peach (Vita’s true form, which (s)he intended to reveal after (s)he confronted the Grand Summoner the month before) destroyed with one shot of her Sinful Shell.<br/>“If you thought the rabbit tuxedo guy was gonna cut it, boy do I have news for you. I’m CV-Peach, the result of combining me with Vita. It didn’t really make sense for me to control him with that “free will” jargon, so I decided to make us one and the same. I can still summon his Outline through an Affinity Card of him, but for now everyone’s with us. For one, I’m no longer an Outline, but an actual person.”<br/>She had a spherical helmet on which made no effort to conceal her face (which reveals her to be a brunette), and her armor is still pink, but with light scratches on it. Her sword is now a beam saber, and her yoyo is still present, but with the classic circular look augmented with a new technological makeover. It’s now outfitted with green LEDs!<br/>(The two relocate to the actual station.)<br/>CV-Peach: “So this is the...”<br/>Silver: “The MVPD. Metaverse Police Department.”<br/>CV-Peach: “Got it. Do we get our next assignment soon?”<br/>Silver: ”We get it when we get it.”<br/>The opportunities for adventure never cease, and Peach was excited for those opportunities.<br/>[EVENT #04: Soul Canvas]<br/>Seraph, as an outline, was traveling through the catacombs of a mysterious dungeon. The walls APPEARED to be made out of flesh, but then a mysterious voice reverberated around the room. “Humble lapine, do you know why you’re an outline?”, the figure asks. “No. I’m rather scared of even thinking about going near that entrance.”, Seraph replied. “Well you’re an outline, because one of your allies made you that way. This is, in fact, his Soul Canvas. His creations have come to light as Outlines, but they have yet to be fully formed. Only when they’re put on paper will they be complete. The walls here are made out of the creativity he has formed in Luminary. As he is responsible for the creation of this very room...”<br/>The Soul Canvas was positively HUGE. It was a large, gaping hole with blue clouds swirling all around inside it. Who knows where it leads to, but if there’s one thing that Seraph has in mind about it...<br/>He decided to flip that entire room upside-down.<br/>Seraph jumped down, looked around, and began to conjure a piece of paper. Then, something came over him. Those brief flashes of the dark world beyond the Curtain. He was trembling, for he did not know what to do with the Soul Canvas. Suddenly, Silver, wearing a white captain’s hat, came in through a portal with a cool-looking giant pen on his shoulder. “Step back.”, he said. “You’re clearly not cut out to use the Canvas. Why? You’re only an outline. Only true creators like me, who can hop in and out of the Metaverse at will, can truly utilize such a device. Allow me to demonstrate.” Silver then pulled the Curtain over both him and Seraph (it’s not a cape, it’s a power that Silver can activate) and threw them both through a spiraling web of dimensions. “The Metaverse is capable of whatever we Soul Creators can put into it. Whether it be characters, locations, familiar terms, and things that we can get along with.” Saying this he traveled through a ton of dimensions, including one where he had to jump on huge leaves, a dimension that is nothing but highways, a seemingly infinite flight of stairs, a version of New York City covered in spiders, and even a microscopic world (complete with Silver fighting tardigrades, dust mites and bedbugs). “If we can think it, it exists already. We have to put it in form or else it won’t reach anyone. Written form, drawings, the humble stage play, anything will work. Anything.” He then warps geometry a ton so that the entire Metaverse is revealed to Seraph. “Let this be a lesson to you whenever you say something’s impossible. The limits of creation? There are no limits! As long as you KNOW what you’re doing, you can think up a whole universe similar to this one! Nothing is too big for the Metaverse!”<br/>By the time the two got back to the Soul Canvas, Seraph was mesmerized by the things he saw. As an outline, he didn’t need to put anything into it. He was IN IT. He was a part of that universe he so loved<br/>so much. “You can be surprised by what this world contains.”, Silver said.<br/>[EVENT #05: Fantastic Echoes and How to Summon Them]<br/>Silver took Seraph (still an Outline) to a wide-open training in Layer 3’s police station (why does a police station have a dojo?) and told him about something. “I want you to learn something. We all have materialized guardians shielding us and ready to shield us from any oncoming threats. They’re called Echoes. Allow me to demonstrate.” Saying this, he took his hand and positioned it in front of his face. His Echo, Shelby, then came forth. “This is an Echo. They can do all kinds of things. From mimicking your moves...”, he says as he does a variety of poses and kicks, Shelby copying them all as he does so. “...to protecting you from attacks from every angle!”, he says as he activates an arrow launcher from the wall. Shelby catches it inches from Silver’s head. “Alright, you try summoning yours.”, he says to Seraph. Seraph counts to 10 in binary with his right hand, then he moves that hand to the left (counting to 6 with the left hand and moving it to the right will work too). Doing so, Plantigrade Blue appears behind him, slightly resembling him but being covered in armor and being colored differently. “Now I want you to try some practice sessions--”, Silver was about to say before Seraph prematurely activated the arrow launchers, deflected all of the arrows without even moving, then had Plantigrade Blue engage in combat with Shelby, disarming her with one slam. Plantigrade Blue then sensed and activated the wooden statues hidden under the ground, then kicked them at Silver, who cut them all down with his sword. “That’s enough, Seraph. You must be a fast learner. Maybe you can apply these skills in<br/>the line of combat!”, Silver applauded. “I already knew this stuff. I had some experience with me that was given by Blue. All I had to do was predict your every move and see my way out of it.”<br/>Everyone has Echoes. The MVPD would be happy to let everyone use them.<br/>[EVENT #06: The Wanderer in the Black Coat]<br/>He is 16 years old, approaching 17. He wears a black coat with equally dark shoes. His face is very hidden under the hood, and yet, he possesses the voice of an average teenager, really.<br/>The Student, as he is named, exited his world (Unity) and visited a section of Luminary (Luminary-AC) where the Confined Mall is located at. Except this Mall’s floor 2 (an actual mall) was based on a certain type of mall found in California. The Student could see that based on the placements of the posters (Again they bore the product designation number ZT2016. As so, it looks a bit familiar.) found on the mall’s windows in the main room. The windows were positively huge, and the combination of that and the starry posters found next to them reminded The Student of<br/>something. He pondered this as he stared upon the posters.<br/>He then found himself in a dark dimension, a distortion of space and time. It was like he was in an event. Not any sort of event, just an event. The color blue was around him in a way that it resembled a view of space. This one second vision was succeeded by him snapping back to Luminary-AC. Never had anything like this passed him by before, it was truly unique and thoughtful. His feelings, however, spiraled all throughout this pattern of things. With it, came two options for defense:<br/>Hopping Mad. A key-shaped blunt weapon that appears a combination of blue and grey with some purple accents. It looks futuristic, and gives off a police vibe.<br/>Wilde Side. A key-shaped blunt weapon that is mostly orange, has green and red accents, and looks organic. It gives off a noticeably urban vibe.<br/>• ACTION SCENE #06: Grey Matter<br/>The Student was put in a “think fast” situation when a blocky force of evil descended from the ceiling. As it attempted to tear up the posters on the window with a blocky tentacle, The Student teleported to the tentacle’s location, cut it off and said: “Better be careful or it won’t just be your dreams getting crushed!”. The menace then attempted to crush him twice with two giant blocky claws, but he quickly moved away twice and threw Wilde Side at it like a boomerang which caused it to bleed purple blocks. It responded by moving just a bit to the side, but The Student had enough of this.<br/>He just went up to the polygon and did an epic combo on it involving rotating his swords around him like whirlwinds, conjuring all kinds of projectiles, then slamming it right back down to Floor 1 (The Red Carpet), where he then finishes the beast off by performing deftly-executed skills like diving into the blocks with his swords, spinning his swords around him while electricity courses around them, and throwing his swords at the blocks as they slice and dice around them like razor winds. He then finishing it off by using a move called “Event Horizon”, where he just<br/>points at the monster with two fingers, then watches it explode into a blocky mess. Around 3 different mall cops.<br/>“I like what you did there, but what’s your na--”, Symphony attempted to ask the Student before he teleported away.<br/>“Well for one, I don’t like introductions too much. I have a personal project I’m working on, and it takes only one man to accomplish it.”, the Student said from beyond the walls.<br/>He is a very powerful and important figure.<br/>[EVENT #07: Primal Corruption]<br/>Ah, but the Confined Mall that the Student went to was a bit different than usual. See, it was actually a manifestation of the Confined Mall that was tailor-made by the Student himself. The Digital Mall had pretty dark secrets underneath the peaceful second floor. For example, Floors 6 and 7 were even darker than usual, as the Student would find out for himself.<br/>Floor 6 was a true mess of a location. White markings dotted the area, while posters of a mature nature were all over the walls. Clothes were spread out all over the place, and The Student even found some familiar red trails that made their way to Floor 7’s door, which has a pink rune on it that highly resembles a pentagram. “Well I’ll be thrown out of my own mind. I wasn’t here to anticipate this event. But I do know one thing for<br/>sure. The person that rearranged MY OWN HOUSE was definitely not in the right mind.<br/>• ACTION SCENE #07: 6th times the charm<br/>Sure enough, a not-too-decently dressed Partial holding an ax appeared behind The Student, saying “This is MY room. Because you were late to our party, I figured that now you’d maybe have a chance to feel around and get used to it.” “I only have an interest in reclaiming my property. I don’t know what you’re doing trying to sexualize me, but it’s about time Floor 6 got a makeover.”, The Student retorted. He took out Wilde Side and disarmed the Seductress of her weapon, forcing her to take more long-range methods. “How’d you know it was me?”, The Seductress replied. “Simple. Surveillance caught it, and the mall cops would have, too if it weren’t for the fact that this is not that type of mall.”, The Student replied. “This is a sin. A sin against the moral code I’ve established.” The Seductress’ first move was to entangle The Student in a web of pink ropes and throw him to the door. “You have one opportunity to leave as so not to interrupt the meeting.”, the Seductress warned The Student. “What ‘meeting’? All I’m seeing here is an adult in the wrong side of the universe. A human. Don’t you know that humans are full of sin?”, he replied. “Partials may look human, but you have the wrong idea of exactly HOW sinful we are.”, she noted. “Every section of the universe has a mood, or Tide. The Tides come in many different varieties, ranging from dark and moody to delightful and happy to people like me. Once the throes of lust--”, she narrates before the Student throws Hopping Mad at her, reeling her back a bit. The Student catches Hopping Mad and says: “Well this Tide says “I’m only in the mood for purity”!”. He transforms Hopping Mad into a shield and Wide Side into a gigantic assault rifle that he wields with one hand. The Seductress readies a shield, but The Student<br/>simply throws Wilde Side at her shield, breaking it. He then jumps to her to close the distance, but she just flip kicks him upwards. He readjusts himself to the new gravity laws, then fires some shots at her. Her agility is on-target for someone who looks as high as a kite, but this is just an effort to conceal her ability to do a Geometry Warp. She does just that, untying him from the ceiling. She does a staggeringly strong punch combo on him, but the Student just summons Shelby to block the hits. She(lby) then replies to this with a grab and toss combo to another side of the Metaverse (more specifically, the Sketch Form), where the Student just watches those two rumble. The Seductress then manages to break Shelby, before heading for the Student. “I’m not even gonna even try to hold back this time.”, he says before sidestepping and cutting The Seductress in half with a razor wind from his hand made out of Endear Energy. “Oh, I didn’t know your kind was incredibly susceptible to Endear Energy! Maybe if your type of Partial wasn’t made out of the complete opposite to Endear Energy [Captivation] you wouldn’t have that problem.”, he quipped as he marched to Floor 7’s door. He could hear...very suggestive sounds in there, so he creaked the door open just a little. Suddenly, a Multiplicity Partial (They look identical to Rabbit Partials) attempted to grab him, but he fired back with his Corruption Biter, an upgraded version of the Sinful Shell that is so powerful it can not only blast holes in asteroids (and dent the moon) (physical), but it can also disintegrate even the strongest of Partials in one shot (metaphysical). The Multiplicity Partial vanished, and he went in the door, firing rounds on every Partial inside (there were about 30 of them) while also firing at a radio playing those sounds from inside a CD inside of it. While he destroyed the radio, a different entity was then summoned on the table. “Return it! Return it at once!”, the entity said in a language that sounded like very mangled English. Not even the Student, who once translated Old Latin, could understand it. “I want every single one of those images, videos, magazines...”, it said before the System deduced that it didn’t<br/>want anything child friendly. He shot at the demonic individual before it noticed him right next to the table. “And what is it that you have arrived here for?”, it asked. It was actually a being that The Seductress had sealed away so that she could summon it again for each ritual she would perform in each floor. But the Student summoned it this time for an entirely different purpose.<br/>“I only need one shot to clear you away.”, The Student said. He kept moving around, aiming his gun at the Primal Corruption as he did so. The Corruption would always try to lunge at the Student, but he would just leap away when it did so. Needless to say, once the Primal Corruption leaped straight at the Student, he fearlessly shot the Corruption once and not only was it forced back, it reeled back in pain as its body vanished. The Student felt relieved when Floor 6 and 7 were restored back to normal and the Seductress’ influence was gradually being removed from the Digital Mall. But the Student still felt like he had work to do.<br/>[EVENT #08: Cryostasis Taxonomy]<br/>Silver was tasked to investigate a perimeter of the Confined Mall (more specifically, a room in Floor 4) that was completely covered in ice...<br/>And when Silver got there, also covered in grass. “Is there a problem?”, he said. “Well, I don’t know which of these swords I should wield. I found a preference for the one on my left hand (a key-shaped sharp weapon that appears to be made out of ice), but I still like to keep tabs with my right-handed sword (A blue-and-orange key-shaped sharp weapon whose key marks look like handcuffs). What should I do?”, The Student said. He had met Silver in the past before but only from outside the Metaverse. He then became very interested in making friends with him. “Monitor your progress with both of them--”, Silver was about to say. “I actually DO use both this time! I’m not even sure how I obtained this one!”, Student says about his new left-hand sword. It just showed a newfound interest of his that he didn’t want to overtake his other one. “Product Designation FZ2013. I had feared this anticipated moment. Something so short, yet so beloved. Have you fallen into this snow-covered rabbit hole?”, Silver asked. “I’m glad you asked, actually.”, The Student said before he took off his hood to reveal....<br/>“How many rabbits do we have here?”, Silver asked curiously. “I haven’t counted them myself. I think it’s about 7.”, The Student responded. “Anyways, should I just use both of these swords or just pick and choose?”, he then inquired. “Do whatever you feel is necessary. When<br/>you get used to using ice in your moveset, then you’ll start to synchronize it with what you’re already used to. It may not be easy, but try your best to reunite the two elements.”, Silver told the Student.<br/>At least the Mall itself hasn’t changed.<br/>[EVENT #09: Important Announcement]<br/>INT: CONFINED MALL FLOOR 1<br/>Everyone is currently seated inside the area as the Student says there is something he wants to say to everyone.<br/>[THE STUDENT]<br/>On the other side of the Metaverse, where us thought patterns dare not enter, there is another world that I myself have inhabited and seen. A world that many of you ought not know about. I call it Lowercase. A dramatic area of risk and reward. It exists in the real world, not in the ones marked with letters. There is only one Lowercase, and it is the place where everyone originates. Inside Lowercase is an authority figure, higher than any of us. If we do so much as rebel, we will not have our freedom. Our freedom is an event at the end of the week known as “Present Utopia.” Present Utopia is a very profound moment in history where our efforts at keeping the mall extra clean is rewarded honorably. If we do not<br/>get to have our share in Present Utopia, this mall will fall in darkness. A lot of darkness. Our foes will be many. We may not be able to anticipate when and how we will and won’t get the opportunity to activate the moment.<br/>[SILVER]<br/>Let me get this straight. You daylight as a regular student in a school, you generally keep your act up about the computers and the rules, and then you earn a little treat known as Fun Friday?<br/>Everyone turns towards Silver, and then The Student.<br/>[THE STUDENT]<br/>...How do you know about this?<br/>[SILVER]<br/>Simple. I’ve SEEN what you do. If you were to tell us that we are actually just in animal bodies, we would probably believe you. After all, this whole “Present Utopia” thing you are talking about is merely an attempt to eliminate a very powerful Partial hidden deep within Luminary called Nureon. Someone summoned it in an attempt to drag us down to where he is (not a very good place) and die with him. But for now, we have to<br/>destroy Nureon and track down this guy. He seems like a very powerful kind of person.<br/>[THE STUDENT]<br/>...How are you able to see what I do in Lowercase?<br/>[SILVER] I’m a scientist working at Lowercase-A1. I work with my assistant, Ryouta Mako. You should see my experiments and creations!<br/>[THE STUDENT]<br/>Not now. I would like to wrap this up first. Remember to keep Nureon under wraps by monitoring mall activity!<br/>[EVENT #10: First Day in the New Week]<br/>...There’s really nothing to report here. The halls are mostly clean, all 7 Layers are free of interference, and the security is on-guard. I could just write this up and call it a day...<br/>If it wasn’t for that rude awakening.<br/>See, Seraph was made in charge of the Confined Mall ever since the Student left for Lowercase and Silver left for Lowercase-A1 to become The Scientist again. The Scientist did something quite daring, as he had a disc on hand (Animation Cluster) that was said to summon something quite mysterious when put into the Input Station. As the Scientist did so, Seraph could feel a mysterious presence in a new location. What he did was he rushed to Floor 2 and went inside of a door labeled “Fuzzy Feelings”.<br/>And boy, did he get some. Not in the way you think, either.<br/>When he arrived there (with mysterious red circles swirling all around his field of vision that no-one else can see), what appeared to be The Student was just standing there with his back turned in a huge, wide-open arena that looked absolutely dark and drab. It appeared to be made out of stone. The Student’s appearance in the middle of the arena was investigated by Seraph right before the figure turned around and revealed itself to be an Instinct Partial. The beast said, in a raspy, loud voice: “Desire has dragged itself to your location, and now your feelings have been overridden by unconditional love. Allow me to demonstrate.” The Partial backed up, aware that Seraph’s weapons are drawn, and turned on a screen hidden in the arena. It showed a movie that the Scientist was<br/>playing that he wasn’t quite used to (it featured CGI wolves and sheep in some kind of weird plot). Sure enough, Seraph got quite the reaction coordinated with the Scientist’s: an almost paralyzing infatuated sense that typically has to do with overdriven nerve cells in the brain. Or something like that. It’s like you’re forced to turn away from something your mind has fallen in love with because your active and inactive states of mind think two different things and have conflicting thought patterns. This was represented to Seraph by the sight of two galactic forces in space clashing with each other, both separated by dozens of planets. It was truly mesmerizing, and he didn’t know what to think. “I’m obviously not gonna fight this feeling. But I do appreciate what you’ve shown me so far.”, Seraph said. “It’s a natural feeling. You CAN’T fight it. All attempts to do so have fallen flat, and maybe it’s why you can’t help yourself but to fight those invaluable maidens.”, the Partial responded. “What are you talking about?”, Seraph asked. “Long ago, in a world distant from ours, the mighty and arrogant warrior Miles did just that. If she looked even the slightest bit attractive or the slightest bit suggestive, he would draw his sword and attack like a savage beast. It was a sight to see by our hands, but unfortunately, he was driven by misguidance. He didn’t know a good woman from a flirty one. He would just simply go an indecisive path. A group of forces called the Harmonic Pulses would go on to seal him away because of how violent and arrogant he was. But no amount of good would seal him away. A lion he was, it would only make him more aggressive.” “I always thought he was a good guy!”, Seraph told the Partial. “He WAS. The legends about him only serve to exaggerate his good qualities. But his sins far outweigh his good deeds. That’s why he was sealed away.”, The Partial explained. “Wait, isn’t this whole ‘slightest bit attractive’ thing the reason why we have the Affinity Cards?”, Seraph asked. “Excellent question. In fact, all Affinity Cards are birthed through the legendary 120-cell artifact, Millennium.<br/>Millennium is firmly responsible for producing and powering the Affinity Cards, and the way it does so is by processing the source materials from all over the Void (much larger than you think), and then using swaths of Endear Energy to make the impossible possible. Fairly decent math, but the algorithm is quite complex. A group of programmers that graduated from a state-of-the-art university could TRY their hands at coding such a method of knowing how much Endear Energy to put in which card, but Millennium does best.” “What’s your name, anyway?”, Seraph asked. “Why, I’m your old friend, 503 Violation. Except I threw that name away. I’m Shay-501.”, the Partial told Seraph before revealing his familiar armored form. “I’ve heard that name somewhere before, but never here.”, Seraph said before turning to leave. “One more thing. Do not underestimate the power of ANYTHING. Closely analyze your situation.”, Shay told Seraph.<br/>The Mall security reported no known incidents. [EVENT #11: Second Day in the New Week]<br/>Shay: “Listen up, Seraph. This is very important. There’s an unidentified territory that half of the mall cops are investigating. It appears to be a large sports arena with the posters, electronic ads and the like replaced with that for product designation ZT2016. After we’re done talking, I need you to investigate the place yourself. There might be some interesting points to analyze down there. But first, I’d like to teach you something. Any being that is confined to the Metaverse – being a part of it – and being unable to escape it due to not having an equivalent anywhere in Lowercase is called an Outline. Outlines are typically created by a being mighty enough to summon such an entity; a Soul Creator. Soul Creators can come from anywhere. All of them originate from Lowercase (the real world) and they all create Outlines that have positions to take in the Metaverse. They can interact with each other, and with their Creators if the situation allows it. However they cannot under any circumstances exit the Metaverse. Once they are created in the Metaverse, they stay. They become a part of the ever-increasing world that the Soul Creators are constantly expanding. Everyone in the Confined Mall is an Outline except for Silver and the Student. Those who are usually are attached to some kind of Soul Creator that were responsible for bringing them into the Metaverse. THey just find their way into other worlds in an altered state and make that their homes under a new persona. However, there is always a way to restore them to their original forms, but you wouldn’t want to lose an ally, would you? After all, the Soul Creator still has a Replica that they keep around with them to remember the Outline that they drew on that sheet of paper... I may have said too much.”<br/>Shay: “Anyways, your next objective: the new place. Search every nook and cranny for that treasured Cinematic Link!”<br/>Seraph: “The what?”<br/>Shay: “Your next mission. Go!”<br/>Shay and Seraph do this a lot.<br/>[EVENT #12: A Cinematic Journey]<br/>Seraph (and allies Razor and Silver) take the time to explore that new place Shay brought up the day before: The Cinematic Arena. It was exactly like he described it, to the point where it gave Silver nostalgia that he wasn’t there to receive. “It’s almost like I was here before, but I wasn’t. Is it that place I keep getting one-second visions of?”, Silver asked. “It could very well be. Let’s keep looking around.”, Seraph recommended.<br/>The place looked like a sports arena, but replace the stadium downstairs with the mother of all cinema screens. Of course, that movie is playing down there at a remarkable 60 frames per second. But that’s not the main attraction. There is a staggering number of Partials here; they looked quite... alien. Like something that shouldn’t exist. All of a sudden, Seraph’s diary lights up despite the time he put it away after Ira and Canon Blue bit the dust. The diary this time took the form of a phone that Seraph took out and read:<br/>“The Cinematic Arena is rife with Instinct Partials. Real ones. Nothing like Shay. They came from a location beneath the boiler room called the Junction’s Sanctuary, but that place has already been demolished by another group of mine I called down there. The Faithful Four they call ‘em. Real strong guys. Anyway, I think I know where the Link is. Try going upstairs. That typically gives you a far better view of the Arena than if you went to the front row.”<br/>“I wonder why that is.”, Seraph writes back. “Maybe it’s due to the fact that the ceiling jumbotron is far larger than usual and the screens are all over the place where the walls of a sports arena would be.”<br/>That Link isn’t going to find itself. Seraph is still unsure about why Shay needs the Link to begin with.<br/>[EVENT #13: Another Group of Heroes] Wolf, Fox, Mouse and Cat are all the codenames of heroes hiding in the shadows, unable to be seen by a majority of the Metaverse. They are known as the Faithful Four. They sit in a base of operations far away from all of the action, just waiting for an event to happen because once they know about it, they know all about it. They are ready to dive in and fix a problem before it starts. Let’s talk about the actual members of this crew.<br/>Wolf, like everyone in the crew, looks like a digital avatar with vaguely human features (I’ll give you a hint, the game console’s controller looks like a remote control.), except those are mostly covered with animal<br/>parts. And as you know, Wolf looks like an actual wolf (but as per usual, anthropomorphic.), but wearing clothes that would not look out of place in a post-apocalyptic world. Due to his shorter-than-usual height, this does not look unusual. These animal hybrids (that we still call animals) often do things that their namesakes would typically do. Armed with a cybernetic sword, a penchant for brute force combat and an unmistakable fur texture, Wolf loves meats and would do anything to have a bite (but not anything too stupid). He tends to rush into combat quite unaware of circumstances, but most of the hits he takes he seems to shake off pretty well. After all, he’s no stranger to taking and dealing a lot of damage.<br/>Cat is, well, a cat. The animal hybrid rule still applies here, but what doesn’t make any sense is that she wears a dress that a 9-year-old would wear. Then I remembered that she IS at least 10 years of age, so it does sort of make sense. She wields a pair of metal claws that very much fit her nature as a fast-moving person that does not play around with tension. They’re also good at catching fish(?!). She can sharpen those claws just by grinding them together, which I’m sure real cats do in order to keep them sharp. She and Mouse actually get along well.<br/>Mouse wields a frying pan, actually does hate cheese, and will usually cause the salad on the table to vanish before anyone actually chooses to eat it. He’s the team healer meaning that everyone feels safe with him on the team even if his potential for damage isn’t that great. He mostly puts status effects on enemies (most notably stun) in order to set them up for ally attacks. He and Cat actually get along well.<br/>Fox is a whole different story. She’s (and yet her name is Fox and not Vixen...? Oh wait, that’s taken.) a ninja. She wields one of the biggest Bowie knives I’ve ever seen, mostly dashes around enemies striking killer combos, and sneaks around to catch them by surprise. Her subweapons include kunai (throwing knives), shuriken (otherwise known as ninja stars) and her ultra-trusty grappling hook, which she uses for fast travel, pulling enemies toward her for combos or a throw, and for a utility. She’s the fastest member in the crew, but her damage output pales in comparison to how fast her combos are. She’s pretty much there to support the team, but she is pretty decent by herself. She mostly stays clear and away from attacks only to follow up on them with some fast movement and speed blitzes.<br/>They came about as a result of timeline displacement, and due to the unwritten rule, their features were shifted around to better reflect the environment.<br/>[EVENT #15: Changes]<br/>So much stuff happened here, and it’s almost too much to recap. Highlights include:<br/>1. The Confined Mall’s second and first floors merge together, creating a “ZT-themed cinematic attraction”. Both Seraph and Wolf were there.<br/>2. Seraph teaching Wolf and Cat to use tfe full extent of Endear Energy in a psychedelic cloud field created by Seraph for use in this training program. Wolf picks up on it eventually, but it takes Cat a bit longer.<br/>3. Wolf discovers his newfound power: the ability to assume the form of a black suit of armor named Obedience. The armor – any part of it – can form on Wolf’s body, and he can wear the whole set to massively increase durability. He also gains stretchy arms, increased punch power and if he wants, sacrificing the stretch for even more powerful fists. He can also shoot spikes from this armor, using them as projectiles. Cat has a similar power, a pink metallic suit of armor called Respect. It comes with a staff that is both a melee weapon and fit for projectiles as well.<br/>4. Around the time Wolf obtained the armor, he was forced to go up against a Leopard Partial. The armor helped a lot, to the point where he could turn his arm into a blade to cut with. This proved to be that Partial’s downfall. They fought in one of the hidden rooms.<br/>[EVENT #16: Power in Metaphysics]<br/>Wolf explores the Confined Mall’s first floor (third floor is the second, fourth is the third, etc.) and comes up with a weird solution. “The world revolves around synchronization. As current events are usually linked with time, I can now deduce that each and everything is harmonized by a gear.<br/>Those gears pair everything in Millennium now, and those Affinity Cards, also gears, are used to make everything spin around. Now let’s invest in these newfound powers.”<br/>Ah, gears. They provide balance to the one true power source. Used properly, the wielder is nearly unstoppable. Command a shield that automatically blocks attacks! Stop time for up to 2 minutes. Make Millennium spin around and do something! Wield the gears themselves. They make good melee weapons. Calculate precise chronological measurements so that swatting mosquitoes is much easier to perform! When time is stopped or slowed down, the time of the user is normal. The area is the user’s playground. With the Eternity Gears, anything is possible that couldn’t be done without them.<br/>Wolf would then cross paths with Seraph upon crossing the pathway between the Mall and the Arena. The conversation went a little like this:<br/>Wolf: “You’re acting up. I think the sheer fluctuation of the energy of the cards has gotten to you.”<br/>Seraph: “Endear Energy isn’t exactly the most controllable substance in the universe. Side effects include panic attacks, lightheadedness, infatuation and fainting. Do you wanna go a round?”<br/>Wolf: “Nah, you’re on a mission, aren’t you?”<br/>Seraph: “I already went on mine.”<br/>The Cinematic Link turned out to be a photo album showing multiple pictures of what appears to be the Confined Mall in a primitive state, looking more like a film festival than a mall. Noticeably, ZT is only found once, on the walls of that kind of place where the movie stars get their pictures taken. Other than that, there’s logos for all kinds of films all over the place, not only none of which are ZT, but weren’t even released until before or after the date the album was compiled....<br/>Seraph: “Which was... when?”<br/>He and Shay are in the Confined Mall before the rearrange that sent Shay to the second floor. The former sent the latter the Link, and Shay was quite delighted.<br/>Shay: “It’s a mixture of different time periods, but the part I don’t get is that these films are all being shown at once in this little building...”<br/>Shay identifies the pictures further and takes a look at the back of them.<br/>Shay: “June 1st, 143124311531, May 2nd, 14538972135, April 8, 1493531234....”<br/>Seraph: “What’re all these foreign years doing here?”<br/>Shay: “The elements of time are being merged together. The collective conscience of Luminary is trying to tell us something.”<br/>Seraph: “And that is?”<br/>Shay: “It’s longing for those films. As if they want that cinematic experience to become more than what it is. The mall is not really a mall. It’s a mishmash of different environments crafted at a whim, and each transformation is the result of a new development taking place. None of these transformations reveal the “mall”’s true form, but it is hidden somewhere deep in the layers, a place that is much too dangerous for you to travel to. I honestly do believe that there is someone who can travel down to that place and fish it out, but it won’t be us.”<br/>Back to the Arena, where Wolf and Seraph are still conversing. However, due to the real-time effect of the flashback, they are now showing each other their skills. Seraph wields Affinity Cards, while Wolf wields his gears. Seraph just pulled out three on each hand while striking a pose, saying: “I even wield powers beyond your comprehension!”.<br/>Wolf: “There’s something I need to give you advice about.”<br/>Seraph throws all 6 of his cards at Wolf, but he just slows time down to a halt.<br/>Wolf: “Metaphysics evolves with time. I have near-complete knowledge of this tunnel of life.”<br/>Wolf then conjures a metaphysical portal that has no concept of time.<br/>Wolf: “This will take you wherever you shall go until time tells it to stop.”<br/>Seraph just emerges from an invisible ceiling behind Wolf, reangles himself still standing on nothing, and walks on some “steps” to confront the Chance Traveler.<br/>“You done?”, Seraph’s last line is before Wolf throws him beyond the boundaries of metaphysical space one last time before he eventually lands inside the MVPD’s station, with an alarmed Razor and Symphony watching him fly through the portal with tons of scratches on his body. His body grinds through the floor as he lay there heavily damaged from his lack of understanding.<br/>“How do you get killed from a force that doesn’t exist?”, Symphony asks her police partner. “Simple. You make it exist and turn it into a knife so sharp it can cut through the Mental Cycle.”, Razor quips. “How are you aware of that...?”, Seraph asks faintly.<br/>[EVENT #17: A Force that Doesn’t Exist]<br/>When Seraph and Wolf journeyed through the Reactor (Warped, one-room version of the Confined Mall that contains a very foreign power), they both found some strange looking cards They each were known for carrying a type of influence called the Death Threat. Said to be a sinful parasite, it infects them with the sin depicted on the card. It causes them to be violent and temperamental, reacting harshly to even the slightest misstep. Seraph picked up the cards on the other side of the Reactor without Wolf seeing what he was doing. Both of them could detect that force. “I’ve known something like this before, I just could never fully grasp it the way I wanted to. As if it’s some kind of enemy...”, Wolf noted. Seraph didn’t say anything when he picked up a new type of Affinity Card. When he did pick it up, though, a swarm of similar looking cards floated in the air and rotated around Seraph. They chanted: “Look into these visages and tell me. Is there a sin you want to commit today?”. Seraph dropped the one he had in his hand and ran out of the reactor, picking up three more along the way.<br/>Much later on, Cat approached Razor, the latter not having expected her to enter the MVPD. Apparently, she got word that she could break their masquerade and directly meet their predecessors. Razor was more than surprised to see a new face like hers. “What are you doing here?”, he asks. “Two individuals, one of which is our leader Wolf, just entered a quarantined place known as the Reactor...”, she explains. “The Reactor? Isn’t that far away from us?”, he asked. “Apparently the Death Threat is back to harm us.”, she replied. “’Back’? I thought it was done away with!”, he said exasperatedly. Just then, Seraph rushed back inside the MVPD, completely out of breath. “Something connected to those cards is currently chasing us. I don’t know WHAT it is, but I do know that one of your old friends--”, He said before Wolf teleported inside and snatched<br/>Seraph’s cards away from him, with a pink aura covering the former completely. “You don’t deserve those cards.”, Wolf said to Seraph. “Why not?”, the lapine replied. “Sigma Cards were forces of evil sealed away long before we got here. They’re filled with sin, and I purposefully lead you to the Reactor just so that you would fall in with me. Do you see how powerful I am now? But of course you wouldn’t follow me. I couldn’t even take damage back there because I was so USED to that influence! It surprises me to see how much this world has changed.”, he said before using a black appendage to grab Razor and sling him to the wall. “The Death Threat is now active. Pick your battles. If you lose, you’re done.”, he said. Cat went up to Wolf and attempted to attack, but Wolf’s Precision Read allowed him to see it coming and slap her out of the way. She just rebounded off the wall and tackled Wolf into the next room. Cat being so much weaker than Wolf, she resorted to using clever methods to take him down, including throwing him backwards out of the window into the streets of Layer 3.<br/>Fox was there to witness that, and with a “What are you doing, Cat?!”, she jumped down, landed safely, and saw that Wolf was influenced by the Death Threat. “Are you going to join her in quiet peace?!”, Wolf shouted before Cat kicked him back up and sheathed her claws. Mouse came up behind Wolf and hit him with his frying pan... which split in two causing Mouse to stare at his weapon in horror, in addition to Wolf taking not a scratch of damage. “I’m out of choices. Do you want to go a round?”, he said shortly before Wolf took his hand, formed a knife out of it thanks to Obedience’s armor and stabbed Mouse with it clean through his body. Mouse’s body just vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. That’s the first casualty. Everyone was affected in some way. Wolf would only get stronger, strong enough to punch Cat hard enough to send her flying – without even touching her – with Wolf giving chase. Cat would reorient herself even though the Faithful Four is now just two, and block Wolf’s<br/>next attack. “Are we really going to split up? Is this how it’s really going to end?”, Cat asked Wolf. “Better gone than having saved a world that really can’t be protected. It will go on for years and yet the universe will STILL have problems.”, he replied. Cat then clawed at Wolf in a wild frenzy, none of her scratches doing damage to Wolf. Wolf just threw Cat to the ground hard, but Fox took the hit for her instead, allowing Cat to get back up and charge up an attack with Respect’s armor enveloping her. Wolf does charge at Cat, but Cat releases the blast anyway. It does still nothing to Wolf. Respect’s armor is completely missing from Cat’s arsenal, but Cat herself is fine. “You forgot one of your Sigma Cards!”, Seraph said, holding the only safe one up in the air like he owns it or something. “Where did you get that?!”, Wolf said in anger. “Doesn’t matter.”, Seraph replied as he sprouted cybernetic wings, obtained a crown and started levitating. He’s still holding the card up as it forms into a GIGANTIC key-shaped sharp weapon, dubbed Breakthrough. It’s decked out with tons of cool decorations like police lights on the side, an angelic gear as the side to hit with, and in general it looks more like a legendary sword than a key. Seraph’s new form, Sunderance, was specifically developed to combat the Death Threat. “I heard about this guy somewhere in the files for the old timeline, but I can’t exactly pinpoint where in time he appeared.”, Razor notes. “He appeared to try to seal off the Death Threat once and for all, but his attempt was only partially successful. He was sealed away back and was only fated to return when the Death Threat has returned. But I don’t think he plans on going away anytime soon.”, Della said, having gotten back from Layer 6. “How do you know this?”, Razor asked. “I read the books. All 6 of them, one for each year. Each book contains 1,895 pages, except for number 6. It’s a bit smaller, but clocks in at a respectable 888 pages. Number 1 is also lacking in size, being around 345 pages...”, Della replied. Major bookworm here.<br/>“This is going to take a while.”, Seraph-as-Sunderance said as he charged at Wolf and managed to break his armor, which is actually the Death Threat’s Conduit, Infinite Doubt. Wolf in return brandished his weapon, a WICKED claymore called Impulse Decision that contains electric powers within. The two fought in the air, clashing blows all around the Magic Tower, an enormous building that isn’t actually magic. It DOES hold the Confined Mall, so the battle appears quite dramatic as Sunderance runs up the building’s windows, confident in his power. Wolf dives at Sunderance, but the winged hero jumps off of the wall, letting Wolf break the glass and land inside a conspicuously empty wardrobe. After breaking free from the pile of clothes, he dives back out, resets his gravity to land on the wall, and gets jumpscared by Sunderance, who body slams him to the cold hard asphalt. Wolf jumps back up, punches Sunderance hard while levitating and takes the battle to the roof, unaware that Sunderance can easily take down the Death Threat because Wolf is so wide open. So Sunderance decides to take out FOUR crossbows (two from him, two from his new Echo Wizard Melee) and gang up on him with a volley of 65 arrows with time frozen. This impressive array of projectiles manages to scare Wolf out of his mind. He knows he’s going to join Mouse in “quiet peace”, and yet, he thinks there’s a way out of this predicame<br/>Once time unfreezes, Wolf takes ALL of the hits, all 65 arrows. Death Threat ceases to exist for now, causing his entire body to vanish, leaving behind his clockwork outfit. “I could use that”, Sunderance said to himself as he tried it on. Suddenly, his Affinity Cards were registered as gears, allowing him to take full control of his methods of use for them. He was no logner afraid of peering into their sheer power, for the concept of Endear Energy was fully integrated into his system. He deactivated his<br/>wings and implanted the memory of a character with only two lines of text in the entire series into the Metaverse.<br/>Razor chanced upon his new outfit and was completely amazed. “What do you plan on doing with that?!”, he asks excitedly. Sunderance pulls put two gears, fashioned from Affinity Cards, and says “The next mission.”<br/>Notably, Fox and Cat are nowhere to be found in Layers 1-18.<br/>[EVENT #18: Σημάδι Δέλτα]<br/>Delta. It is a force. A force that commands all forces. The gears, the Cards, the everything. Being summoned by Sunderance, it remains in control of his powers (not his outfit). Gracing it, going near its radiance will only rupture the heart of a metaphysical being. They simply cannot comprehend its sheer power.<br/>Before that, Sunderance got word that Wolf and Mouse were actually two of the four Aspects, Obedience and Awareness. “I thought there were only three. Why didn’t anyone tell me?!”, he quipped. When Sunderance was given a chance to see the layer that they were in, they were both floating in the empty space filled with naught but psychedelic pink and white substance. Death Threat, otherwise known as Sigma, was looming<br/>over them, seemingly shielding their empty souls with its life. Sunderance wanted to save them, but first he had to pass a test.<br/>“Ο Κύριος δίνει, ο Κύριος απομακρύνει. Μια δίκη, ένα μικρό βάρος για το μηδέν ένα μικρό παιδί. Πες μου απάντηση όταν το βλέπεις αυτό.” (The Lord giveth, The Lord taketh away. A trial, for naught a little child. Give me a response when you see this.), Delta whispered into the mind of Sunderance. This command dug deep into the system of the great hero, for there was no escaping it. He was binded by a contract he willingly signed up for.<br/>And even though his assignment was to chase a Sigma Partial down the street, first he got to take a look at the new Layer 6, the area replacing the city. It was a full-fledged sanctuary for ZT... No wait. Here it’s called the Master Disc, and the purple piece of playback was prominently displayed in front of the building. The interior seemed normal, with hues of green dotting the walls and floor. The roof was white, but when one goes up the steps, the architecture becomes a mixture of different formulas that don’t mesh well together, and only shows how mixed up only a fragment of a place can be when you take a bunch of those fragments and put them together to make what can barely be considered a room. Nevertheless, it’s fully navigable, but it aesthetically changes over time. Sunderance was rather impressed at the design of the place and the sheer creativity that Delta was able to fashion.<br/>But he had a job to do, no matter the length of exploration. Breakthrough was fully powered up by the time Sunderance left the door. He hit the ground running literally, with a green blur trailing behind him due to how fast he’s running. The Partial is nearly unable to leave him behind as it<br/>continues turning corners that Sun is able to read and also turn. Eventually, Sun tricks the Partial into turning a corner by stopping dead in his tracks. He turns one way, then locks onto the Partial and immediately launches himself toward it, kicking it towards a car. The Partial grabs the smashed vehicle and attempts to bludgeon Sun with it. He just dodges it once and cuts it in half before it can hit him. One devastating electric Breakthrough combo in the air later and the Partial’s entrails are literally all over the place. “These guys don’t just simply dissappear. If you massacre one, the results are rather messy. Taking after those ultra-violent dice-em-ups, I see. I mean, I know I killed a literal force of sin, but come on. He wasn’t THAT hard to track down and take down. I had him by a literal half-second and then I royally tricked him—you know how that goes, don’t you Delta?”, Sunderance said to the force before returning back to the Refined Sanctuary, located on Layer 6.<br/>At least Respect and Honesty are still standing and ready to get some action in, especially when both are tasked with defending the Refined Theater, which is no longer fragmented and broken, but rather looking like a genuine theater megaplex. Complete with a literal red carpet and movie ads (for real movies, mind you).<br/>The new recruits are some smart guys called Delta Units. They speak Greek to each other and tend to rip up any enemy they come across. They’re really competent, and the leader for this group specifically, Delta A-2, is basically a translucent, even more competent Terminator. He speaks Greek to everyone else and has never lost a fight.<br/>[EVENT #19: Let Me Show You Around]<br/>“Welcome to the Refined Sanctuary. Please take a seat in your desired seating area and enjoy the presentation or feel free to check out the other rooms by visiting the adjacent doors. Thank You!”<br/>There’s a big Z inside of a circle on the floor when you walk in, the walls are decorated with green, smooth hues. The entrance is nothing but two doors on the left and right sides connecting to walls. Those walls are hallways leading to the Extant Room. It’s a gigantic, luxurious area twice the size of a ballroom; it’s decorated with flags that depict two characters featured in the “presentation” that’s assumed to be contained inside the Master Disc. The room itself was decorated with potted grass shrubs and some brown decals. The center of the floor had that same giant Z from the entrance. There are steps behind the entrance that lead to the top of the Refined Theater, a gigantic, show-stopping auditorium with a 4K screen in front surrounded by a grand total of 78 chairs. There are curtains that serve as nothing more than decoration; just typical movie theater settings. The sound system is bass-boosted surround sound equipment that manages to capture the feel of certain events in the film. The walls here are unique; they react to events in the movie by flashing lights according to which characters are talking or which ones have focus. The character portraits change with the scene thanks to blinds. The end credits have a different design altogether that matches the actual end credits scene. The lights that are positioned in-between each row of chairs also have the same shade of blue as said end credits scene background. When the end credits are displayed, they light up even brighter. All concessions brought to the theater are automatically cleaned from the floor when the film’s over.<br/>The top of the Sanctuary leads to the Mystery Room, a massive hallway with enormous posters for the movie in question featuring different characters; this combined with the white interior and the light coming from the window gives the place a mystery feeling, a bit nostalgic. Sitting there, as Sunderance gives himself the tour, is the manifestation of the Delta... Delta. “What brings you here?”, she asks. She’s a bit eccentric, but she knows all. She’s knowledgeable about the different angles of the Metaverse, why people act the way they do and even about different sins. She looks the part, too. She wears a rather regal robe befitting her role as a wise, all-knowing one. It also doubles as her battle outfit, because she has never lost a fight and hasn’t even gotten hit yet! She talks like an overseer, yet her hair seems to always be done in a specific hairstyle on certain days of the week. On a Wednesday she does it in a braid. “A team of three guys showed up and royally sabotaged my pitch...”, Sunderance responded rather worryingly. “The Crazed Bandits. Just as I expected. They think they have so much free will that their dense little attitudes can just simply infiltrate whatever sanctuary they want and act like they own the place... Oh, my fault! I tend to ramble at times, but mostly it’s just things I tend to dislike. Those clowns will never earn my respect. It’s my strong sense of justice. But as per requested, this sanctuary was mostly built to be a kid-friendly environment. They will never enjoy themselves out of what isn’t violent or packed with that other garbage. Suit yourself.”, Delta replied earnestly, with some regality and honor in her voice.<br/>“They don’t like my choice of--”, Sunderance requested again. “Hush. I know. I understand. I am found all over the Metaverse, and I can’t influence everyone. Listen. This sanctuary wasn’t built for those clowns.”, Delta says while pulling out 5 cards. She yells “Triangle Chain!”, as a green<br/>floating triangle appears behind her chair. She then counts to 5 in binary on her hand, and as she does so, the triangle shapeshifts into the anthropomorphic animal characters represented on the cards, first a blue vixen, then a grey European rabbit, then a red fox, along with another orange rabbit, followed by another red fox. All but the first red fox are female. She then puts the cards back, and Triangle Chain disappears. “This sanctuary was built for YOU. YOU’RE the one in charge of this establishment. Me? I’m just the person responsible for guarding the place, and the one responsible for your safety.”, she says. “What was that card thing for?”, Sunderance asks her. “The Delta force is packed in these Cards, and you have a devilishly potent allergic reaction to them. Only you. There’s no cure, so you will have to be very careful or risk breaking your heart. All Metaphysical beings have weaknesses, and I found yours. All of the cards shown here, as well as some of yours, have that trait I would like to call the Delta Sign. It’s a very powerful sigil that invokes fear and terror to those that are not used to its power. Use it wisely, for it can kill you if you’re not properly prepared to use one.<br/>Oh yeah, I dismantled the Confined Mall, took the actual mall and put it somewhere else. The Confined Theater was split into two. One of them is in this Sanctuary, the other is a 6-screen megaplex that you should visit in your spare time. Layers 4-7 are just white space now, but I did manage to gather some intel on that monster in Layer 28. Nureon is being controlled by someone who calls himself “The Intellect of the Past”....”, Delta explains.<br/>Then they both hear a knock on the door. “On Friday, use this key on the right side of the theater in floor 1, and command the telescope on the sanctuary to point it to a suitable location. Show the world your stuff. I have to drive these bandits out again.”, Delta explains. She draws a regal-<br/>looking rapier from her left-hand side (She’s right-handed), loads 5 Delta Cards above her to choose between Synergy spells, and heads out. “Stay in the roof!”, she says to Sunderance before beginning her mission.<br/>[EVENT #20: ??? Varied ???] Sunderance has no idea what’s going on here. One moment, the two were politely conversing about their powers, the next moment they start using their powers on each other...<br/>The Student made a surprise appearance to Delta in the Refined Sanctuary’s Extant Room. He told her that his powers are successfully kept in check and that he doesn’t have to pull any further arrangements. Like an old married couple, their conversation goes like this:<br/>The Student (appearing to Delta and Sunderance): “What about you, Delta? Does your radiance flow around the Metaverse unlike mine?”<br/>Delta: “My power has no limits. Bear in mind I had to teach Sunderance a lesson on how boundless my power is to him after he asked me how is it that I became unflinching in response to the Delta force.”<br/>The Student: “...It would be wise if I kept my power in check. Who knows what kind of disaster awaits the Metaverse if I chose to unleash--”<br/>Delta (getting suspicious): “Why? What’s inside you preventing you from being your true mind?”<br/>The Student: “Experience. From my backgrounds. I come from a long line of people who are not like me. I tend to restrain myself around the Delta force--”<br/>Sunderance (royally ticked off): “You’re the one giving me my allergic reactions, you selfish wuss!” The Student (A bit flustered): “How do you know that?”<br/>Sunderance: “Well, you said it yourself. Our forces are evenly synchronized, meaning that you directly control what I am and am not affected by. You’ve been hiding from the Delta force to protect your relationship with the Silver Halves!”<br/>Delta (almost speechless): ”I didn’t even realize that he even knew what the Silver Halves were. Their existences were kept so secret that not even we knew or were supposed to know about them. How do you know--”<br/>Sunderance: “I recall Silver giving me some of his work one day when he was in the Confined Mall before it split up, and he told me about these mysterious beings. I still don’t understand who they are, but they radiate some kind of influence that keeps The Student at bay. His power comes from them and he needs to pick a lane.”<br/>The Student: “I do not intend on leaving you or them! They are related to me in every way, form and fashion! I obtain power from two different sources, and the death of me or Delta will not make a difference, as the Metaverse will perish and none of us will be anymore!”<br/>He then takes his hood off, revealing him to be the Lowercase Principal, Quincy.<br/>Delta (Surprised but unflappable): “You’re their leader, aren’t you?”<br/>Quincy: “And the only one who can go from the Metaverse to Lowercase and back. There’s no controlling the Halves’ influence.<br/>Sunderance: “I can. I’m one of your partitions.”<br/>Delta: “Let me take him. I’m his other HALF.”<br/>Sunderance: “....”<br/>Delta then grabs Quincy and takes off out of the window that separates the Extant Room from the side of the entire Refined Sanctuary. They circle back and forth between each other and strike with their weapons. Delta blasts back Quincy with one of her cards and throws it away. Sunderance could only fly to the roof of a building and watch them duke it out. Quincy slams Delta into a building and charges at her. Delta pushes him back and the two keep clashing. Eventually after a copious amount of theatric<br/>battling, Sunderance flies away from the building and Quincy is knocked back to it. Delta flies to his location and they converse.<br/>Quincy: “When will you reach the full height of your power, like I did?”<br/>Delta: “I already did a long time ago.”<br/>Delta then grabs Quincy with a giant rope-like snake protruding from the ground shaped like a specific city’s green twisting skyscraper (I’m literally all out of hints) and mashes him on the ground multiple times. However, he breaks free of this by sprouting dragon wings and burning the snake with a dive to the ground. He then grabs Delta and flies out of there, intending to separate her from her own world. However, her quick-thinking lead to her reaching for her sword and cutting herself out of Quincy’s grab, making him lose an arm in the process. He grows it back and dives for Delta, however. They clash in the air again, and Delta asks one question:<br/>“Why won’t you reform?!”<br/>One final slash to Quincy’s heart later, and 70% of his ties to the Silver Halves have been cut... and manifested in the form of a truly magnificent beast of a dragon, the master of Reelback Matter. A shapeshifter demon that carries a wicked influence. Anachaitizo.<br/>Anachaitizo is a Greek word meaning “restrain” and it fits very well when Quincy regains composure in his unmasked, normal form and has to<br/>confront his clone seemingly alone... when Delta steps in and asks Quincy to let her do the heavy lifting. And so off she goes to confront this mysterious being herself.<br/>Anachaitizo’s attacks include manipulating dark matter to meet his own gain. He can control the swarm according to a variety of shapes to meet his combat needs. This includes swords, shields, bulldozers, cars, metal objects like poles and lightning rods, a cannon, and even actual elements like fire, water, ice, electricity, wind, dark light, and even the ground. Anachaitizo, however, is clearly no match for Delta’s attacks utilizing the Delta force. With time, the beast gave way, disappeared, and allowed Quincy to fully immerse himself in the Delta force, also vanishing.<br/>When Sunderance got the news, he said: “What’ll be of the world he came from?” Delta could only reply: “It’ll be there. He’ll be there, as a solid guardian separating the Metaverse from the real world.”<br/>2 Hours later, Silver and Sunderance went to check Nureon’s status. The demon trapped there was no longer in captivity. “Why do they call him a demon, anyway?”, Sunderance asked. “Inner Demon.”, Silver responded.<br/>[EVENT #21: Semper peccatis purgandos]<br/>Sunderance and Delta, alongside Quincy (He can travel to the Metaverse by separating himself from his base form, The Student, set up the Refined Theater’s “presentation” all according to Delta’s plan. Her new plan ever<br/>since the telescope thing fell through was for her to use the Theater to build up Sunderance’s hidden power: he can use the Delta force. He had to see the presentation front to back to go up to 100% to increase his power exponentially. They ran into some issues with the presentation, including the video software crashing multiple times throughout the presentation, but once they got it working, Sunderance could feel the Delta force running through his body...<br/>But by the time it was over, even 100% wouldn’t cut it. He had one more enemy to go.<br/>Meet Sunderance Sigma, a clone of our hero that was created through Sigma energy during one of our hero’s missions through the Metaverse Corridors. They’re basically different types of gateways throughout the ‘verse that typically link to other locations found in the ‘verse. Most of these Corridors contain images. Sigma was located by Sunderance but there was nothing our hero could do to stop his existence, as the Sigma energy was flowing throughout his system. Sunderance could not even get near him at that point. Sunderance knew what to do once absorbing the Delta force was said and done. He rushed out of the Confined Theater eager to confront his old enemy.<br/>As it turned out, Sigma copied nearly everything from Sunderance to the point where he even has his own version of Sunderance’s sword, called Dismember. Sigma recounted the times when Sunderance had “sinned”, including the very mission that he went on that spawned his existence. Accordingly, Sigma then whipped up a tornado that showed Sunderance the “ruins” (translation: it’s not real) of a location (The Fuzzy Sanctuary) that our hero would often visit on his missions to retrieve more Delta<br/>Cards. “Well thankfully, I have a trick up my sleeve. A magician...”, Sunderance says as he summons Wizard Melee and upgrades him to the more powerful Wizard Axis, saying: “...never reveals his secrets!”. “Well, magicians do need to change their spells with every performance. Because guess what!”, Sigma said as he revealed his own Echo, Mass Destruction, and upgraded it to Mass Terror, a truly massive beast only slightly taller than Wizard Axis. “When a rival spellcaster copies your performance, his applause has a chance to be greater than the original!”, Sigma replied. The two then drew their swords as the storm raged on behind them. Delta and Quincy could only watch as Sunderance and his clone threw their powers at each other, Sunderance summoning pillars of green blocks to block his clone’s attacks with, replying with a cannon that fires mounds of green blocks clumped together that nearly stagger the clone at first, giving Sunderance enough room to reply back with a green block mace. This mace gives him a chance to weaken Sigma shortly before he uses his ultimate attack.<br/>He takes one of his Delta Cards and raises it, causing over 1,800 Delta Cards to rise up and transform into swords. “This is the combined result of all of the Delta Cards found in Millennium. This is more than enough to overpower you and your Echo. It’s also enough to clear any of my “crimes” committed by making you exist. Can you bear this?”<br/>Sunderance runs his swords through his clone, causing him to explode into dust. Delta brings our hero back to the Refined Theater, him clearly out of energy. She promises him and Quincy that she will not let this happen again. Quincy wishes he could have done something earlier to help him.<br/>Meanwhile Quincy obtains a guitar from one of the Corridors. He strums it, and a mist dragon is summoned from it. Each strum causes the dragon to attack, and repeated playing makes it stronger. He totally likes his find.<br/>[EVENT #22]<br/>The Fatal Heist. A collection of over a dozen Delta Cards surrounded by a few Theta Cards, which are purified Sigma Cards. Only the one Theta Card that was half-purified stays with the others, and it gives our hero, Sunderance, a sword he is bound to. His attempts to throw it away were only met with him getting it back. The Heist was also almost a disaster; the robot god known as LC_Gold blocked the view of our heroes, but with some skill and extra help, it was soundly defeated. But this brung to Layer 3 (The city called Exodus) extra trouble. Red sky above, it was swarmed with Sigma Units, and everyone alive, including Peach, had gone out of their way to solve this issue. The 3 city districts were affected, and so new recruit Markus, known for his super speed, unpredictability, and electricity powers joins Sunderance, Delta, and Quincy on their quest to find out who’s causing this mayhem. “I totally said I wasn’t going to let this happen. Why did you let me forget?!”, Delta said to Sunderance. “Can we all just agree that this Heist was an attempt to rebrand these Sigma cards into something much brighter?”, Sunderance replied.<br/>“I feel heartbroken. I would never do this around my comrades.”, Quincy said to himself. “It makes me regret being a part of my side of the spectrum... the Silver Halves wouldn’t like this at all.”<br/>Sunderance discovered something when he went to the third district. A place hidden deep in metaphysical space. The World of Closed Eyes. It’s a pitch-black, dreamlike location that is influenced by the last person to travel it. Recently it was hit by a mysterious force linked to the Sigma force that caused it to be filled with quite risqué stuff.<br/>“I don’t like what’s going on here. Can anyone give me some quick tips?”, Sunderance cried out inside the dark realm. Nobody responded except for a knight named Morning Sin. “Do your best to stay out of traffic. Luxuria will have your attention shortly.”, the knight said in a deep, legionnistic voice. The knight has large, white-on-black armor equipped with a black sword. The bells and whistles only begin here; he also has large, white-on-black cybernetic wings that look identical to Sunderance’s. Drones that fire lasers, the sword also being a futuristic-looking whip, the armor turning into a dragon, that all comes with Morning Sin’s second form, Immortal Sin. Regardless, both of those forms were slain, and the influence in the World of Closed Eyes had faded, replaced by a blue sky. It’s unknown as to how long this lasts.<br/>Luxuria’s Fort was them revealed in the middle of Exodus City, causing everyone to try to dart there... only for everyone except for Sunderance to be bounced back. Apparently, this is his job to accomplish. The Fort itself was a mesh of machinery that ended up turning a very nightmarish tint. It had a negative sight integrated into it. It was only guarded by an impressive mech that someone that also visited this timeline was here to<br/>fight. Well, two entities, anyway. White cat Victoria and Grey tomcat Mark. They had two different styles, projectiles for Mark and close-range combat for Victoria. The mech was no match for them both. “How’d you get here?”, Sunderance shouted. “We must’ve had a chance encounter. We might know each other, but for right now let’s keep going.”, Victoria answered. Both of them were from a world inhabited by simplistic entities like them. What kind of wardrobe they equipped themselves with depends on the time of day.<br/>Luxuria awaits the heroes at the end of the Fort’s many trials. A hooded figure with wicked intentions, she is named after the Second Cardinal Sin, Lust (for both kinds of desires). She conceals exactly HOW non-human she is by using a type of illusion. With the voice of a woman of color, she addresses Sunderance by name, saying: “The World of Closed Eyes... I siphoned power from you, your actions and your intentions. Your “repurposing” skills with the Sigma Cards, turning them into Theta Cards and such... they amount to nothing when you’re still haunted with those flashes of... what shall I call it... nudity? Do be warned; I don’t play nice. All of those cards you have I can turn on you. Can you say...”, she says before Sunderance takes out his Corruption Biter and fires at Luxuria. She does take the brunt of the damage, but she shakes it off by firing a laser at Sunderance, which he blocks with his (ill-gotten) sword, Dismember. He does not use Breakthrough here. Luxuria has tons of lasers, Sigma Cards, 25% purified Theta Cards, swords, bladed weapons and even a firearm. Indeed, she duels Sunderance with that gun, but since the Corruption Biter is stronger, she reels back and reveals she’s not done yet... by revealing her armored form. She wears pink-gold armor and wields predominantly pink weapons. Her face is also revealed here; it looks positively Lovecraftian and reflects how her sin can change a person’s inner self into a monstrous individual if left uncontrolled. However, given as how her weapons hit with Luxuria’s influence,<br/>Sunderance had to dodge everything she threw at him. Mark and Victoria couldn’t bear to get close. Breaking her armor was no easy feat; Sunderance had to use his gun to carefully target her not-very-searchable weakpoints, she had quite a few. But as she was quick on her feet, the mission was very difficult... until Quincy managed to break in with his Theta force. “Where’d you come from?!”, Sunderance shouted. “Delta threw me up here and gave me some much-needed assistance. And by that, I mean she gave me a heaping helping of Delta and Theta Cards. I had awakened my true self.”m Quincy replied. Luxuria became very afraid, and was chased around the entire fort by Quincy’s chastisity influence. “I do wonder where he got it from. Maybe it was time to take a stand? Anyways, our mission is pretty much done, if the sky doesn’t clear up by the time I’m done, I’ll crawl over to wherever Lux is and bring Delta along. I remember she was so furious that she refused to come out of her armor until Lux was dead. Delta Install’s a powerful thing, it came with two swords and everything. Too bad she was saving it for an event that would never come true...”, Sunderance pondered as eventually, Quincy would chase Lux all around Exodus’ third district, with Delta giving chase. They would eventually travel to the World of Closed Eyes (more specifically, a region of it that resembled the Refined Sanctuary’s first floor), where Markus was just standing there, charging up a fatal electric blast. “How’d you know I’d be here?”, Lux asked the spotted tuxedo bunny. “Simple. I have aspects of all three forces in me.” Markus was Sunderance from six years in the past; his version of the old timeline was just like this one, but in the perspective of historical events. Because of his young age, there are some things that he just doesn’t understand, but as there are things (and a lot of things) that he does understand, he’s smart enough to know who our bad guy is.<br/>“That doesn’t mean a thing. You’re too young to understand my purpose!” -Luxuria’s last words. A combination of Delta, Quincy and<br/>Markus attacking her all at once was enough to put her influence down for a good long while. The World of Closed Eyes still had some work left to be done, though.<br/>[BIO: Markus]<br/>Markus is TERRIFYING.<br/>Okay, let me rephrase that.<br/>Markus’ lightning can do almost anything. It can harm enemies, change how machines work, he can ride on it, and generally cause mass destruction when he’s angry enough.<br/>And boy, does he get angry.<br/>His speed is partially fueled by his rage (his speed cap is Mach 2, this allows him to fully stop time for everyone around him AND slow down time for himself, giving him a rather hallucinogenic experience. This is all a part of his power set.), and so is his lightning. He’s changed the weather on more than one occasion, and once blacked out a large chunk of the<br/>Metaverse Corridors while fuming over Sunderance’s antics. Seriously, his reign of terror is infamous among the Partials.<br/>His main weapon is an extendable lightning rod. Need I say more?<br/>[EVENT# 24: The Nureon Saga Part 1: Outer Soul]<br/>Ah, everyone has one.<br/>The Echo’s successor, an upgrade to a preexisting formula. A link to the innermost thoughts and feelings, projected through the strongest of guardians. A bodyguard to protect from the dangers of the outside world. It will wield a weapon, and it WILL stay loyal to you no matter the cost. An Outer Soul.<br/>Silver discovered his after travelling to the deeper layers to find where Nureon went, as all signs point to him being in the lower layers. He unearthed his Outer Soul, Academy Helper (his weapon is a ruler that could turn into a whip-sword.), when he was fighting the guardian of the lower layers, Hudson. He was a real tough one, but the laws of geometry could still be bended in his purely vertical battle arena.<br/>The last thing Silver DID see, though, was a mysterious individual clothed in blue tending to the care of a large, blue beast filled to the brim with<br/>acupuncture needles. That blue figure turned around and said: “My pet is currently undergoing treatment. If you want to go any farther, you may.”<br/>“I only want to see your “pet”. It’s tearing the fabric of our world, encouraging rebellion and anarchy. I want it gone.”, SIlver retorted. He didn’t know that Nureon was his pet at all.<br/>“That’s fine, I’ll remove this trespasser from my view, then.”, the blue man said while taking out a sword that looked rather familiar to Silver. It was a silver, clean sword with a guard that contained a blue ring on it that glows. This was the chosen one’s fabled sword...<br/>[EVENT# 25: The Nureon Saga Part 2: The Twisted Spiral]<br/>Most recently, Sunderance, Razor (who is equipped with a lightning rod given to him by Markus), Delta, Quincy and Markus were given a task. That task was to explore a truly monstrous location. The Twisted Spiral. A place where many souls have given themselves up. Daunting monsters await every corner, a lot of conflicts made their homes here, and a ghastly beast hides here to terrorize any who dare cross its path. The walls are dark, the beats are heavy (the battle themes would be dark dubstep, hear me out), and Razor does the most talking. Seriously. He urges our crew to stay back whenever a particularly strong enemy stood in their way, and he once blocked an explosion using a lightning shield.... an explosion that knocked down the other 4 heroes. Talk about solid.<br/>THe quest DID come to a head, though, as the dark dungeon with its many steps, twists and turns, horrifying monsters, and one shocker of a jump-scare had to end soon. The party, still standing after making a trip to the noticeably calm Second Sanctuary (They got to be fully healed at a wedding between a dog and a rabbit. Not the rarest of sentences...), met a yellow blob of matter resembling a cyst popping out of a sac, a beast enclosed in a fleshy shell. The Messy Sun. It was a nigh-invulnerable piece of work, only taking scratch damage with every hit. The party had nothing to do but stay on guard – even team heavy Razor could only block its powerful point-blank explosion technique, which still hit the team for a lot of damage. When the Messy Sun realized that our heroes just kept blocking its attacks, it grew an eye – its only weak point – and started just straight up casting attacks like Disaster (divides team member HP by 4), hampering the team greatly. Good thing Delta was a potent healer, because she could heal everyone for about as much as the monster was dealing. The key was to hit the eye, for it took all of the damage that a weapon could do---<br/>ANd then Razor and Markus did a dual Sinful Shell-Lightning Chaser combo, completely annihilating the beast. The sheer amount of fluids on the ground meant only one thing to everyone sans Delta; it was time to get out of there and return to the Sanctuary. (Delta wanted to stay behind and study the monster’s organs and bodily fluids. She must be a potent scientist.)<br/>The other 4 did encounter a rather buff soldier on their way there, who only had one purpose – destroy the heroes (who all happen to be animals, and he represents those that hate on anthropomorphic animals, so that means he wants to...) Fortunately, Delta has none of this and fires a laser from her finger as hot as a red giant (4,700 *C / 8,500 *F for the non-<br/>scientists at home), completely melting the soldier down to his skin tissue. The other 4 had to steer clear of the laser to avoid being burned. “Don’t stare at my accomplishments. I’m not one to be praised. Just keep going.”, Delta warns everyone.<br/>This is just a test to see if everyone’s ready for the final test...<br/>[EVENT #26: The Nureon Saga: Part 3: The Several]<br/>Silver and the mystery person were still at it. The stained glass below an otherwise dark arena kept the two illuminated as they swiped at each other with their swords. Nureon was asleep in the background, not being startled awake by their fighting. Eventually, mystery guy fired an energy projectile from his hand, catching Silver off-guard with a sudden case of paralysis. He then went for the finishing blow, which would certainly put Silver out of commission for quite a while. Silver had no choice but to accept his fate, sword out of reach.<br/>Meanwhile, a team of 6 (Apricot, Cobalt, Vicky, Symphony, Peach and Roulette) were looking up at a blue skybeam generated from a bunch of Delta Cards. These cards were notable for stretching the line as to what consists of a Delta Card or not, but at least they were all safe; because what other event to come next is for 3 of those cards – the most powerful ones – to suddenly rush towards a group of Sigma Cards and clash against them in the air. “What’s next?”, Apricot asks before Vicky suddenly yells: “Watch out!”. The girls all retreat from their positions and take off running before a giant robot lands on the ground next to where they were<br/>and attempt to attack them. The robot was powered by a Sigma Card and has a laser cannon for a head. Another robot, this time powered by a Delta Card, flew in and engaged in a fistfight with the Sigma Mech. The girls ran clear out of sight, being careful not to split up. They eventually came to a head when they ran towards a seemingly safe area out in the middle of the highway far out in the distance. The girls all took a moment to catch their breaths. “I did NOT expect that to happen. Neither did we.”, Peach said. “I could have taken them myself.”, Vicky said. She was being reasonable here, though the robots were far too large for her to handle responsibly. “If there’s a real powerhouse in this group, it’d be me.”, Cobalt replied to them both. “Please, Cobalt. I would have beaten you in a straight duel, psychic powers or not.”, Peach answered. “We have visitors, it seems.”, Symphony warned the group. The “visitors” were indeed three familiar individuals. Pro-Choice, returning from Clarence’s home place, Pro-Life, armed with a baseball bat, and a new person, The Foreigner, who wields psychic powers just like Cobalt, but she can channel it through energy instead of a force. “What brings you here?”, Cobalt asks. “Oh, just a simple question.”, Pro-Choice answers. She then whips out a coat hanger. “Does it hurt when I do this?”, she then asks again before rushing to Cobalt’s side and stabbing her with the top part of the utility. That’s when Peach takes out her extendable whip and drives Pro-Choice back with it. “You don’t harm any of us, we leave you alone. I don’t know what your problem is--”, Peach responds to this incident. “Oh, it’s quite simple. The children of this world, they are little more than burdens--”, Pro-Choice attempts to explain before Della literally rushes on the scene like a rocket, grabbing Pro-Choice AND Pro-Life by the necks. She then rises upwards, gives both greyscale animals the death stare of their lives (she has ZERO pupils!), then dives back down, covered in green energy, plunging into the water. The Foreigner and all 6 girls just looked down into the water and saw only two objects; a baseball bat and a bloody coat hanger. “That’s gonna be the only thing we’re gonna see of those two for<br/>a while. How’s the robot thing going?”, Symphony bluntly tells everyone, then asks. By the way, Symphony has a unique appearance amongst all the girls; she wears exclusively white, almost translucent gowns, and she has a sort of regal appearance about her. In addition, she almost never opens her eyes – despite this, she is perfectly capable of sight.<br/>“I think we have another thing coming.”, Vicky announces when she sees an alien robot mothership transforming into the biggest of all of the Sigma Mechs, then turning towards the girls. “Are we headed into an unwinnable battle?”, Peach and Symphony ask themselves.<br/>The underground has 6 capsules, each containing the warriors that fought the danger that was Pro-Choice. Their weapons were all set in stone, encased in glass. A dual-bladed staff whose blades were the Refined Sanctuary’s logo. A red gun that can morph into a sword. A golden sword that can light on fire. A set of gauntlets that can allow the user to make their punches explode. These are just a few of the weapons that were available to these warriors. They have all failed time and time again to drive away the horrors of the Forbidden Comic. An issue that has not been touched upon ever since Clarence had seemingly been erased from the world.<br/>[BIO: The Several]<br/>Vicky wears camouflage, has seen through every angle of battle thanks to her military experience, and is almost always prepared for a battle whenever she sees one coming. She always makes sure her teammates are always prepared for an event. There is literally no event where they forgot to do or bring something with them. Throw away nothing.<br/>Cobalt wears a business outfit that slightly muffles itself up whenever her powers activate. However, she knows well how to cap them, but when she needs to, she never seems to hold back. As a result, sufficiently large fights between Cobalt and an enemy up to her power level can result in mass destruction. Her powers are force-based, so they never attack directly. However, she can channel them into her otherwise paltry hand-to-hand combat skills. She is also well-known for being VERY hyperactive. Sometimes her powers burst from her by accident.<br/>Apricot is an expert navigator, having many maps on hand, never getting lost and always managing to find an exit whenever they need one. She also stockpiles blasters from all kinds of sci-fi environments. After all, these girls are not the actual beings represented by their Soul Creators. They are mere projections of the Soul Canvas. In fact, they don’t even seem to disappear after being defeated. They seem to know how to come back from death. However, once the original individual is removed from the Metaverse, these projections cease functioning. That’s exactly how the Miracle Couple keep existing in all different kinds of places in the Metaverse. And that’s how Clarence was able to create the Entropies.<br/>Peach now wields a multi-colored sword-whip where each color corresponds to the Delta Ring currently equipped on her finger. Yes, we’re doing rings now. She was given these rings by Delta as a test to make sure<br/>they were ready for use, and yes, they were ready. The summons still work, although they work by a snap, followed by the raising of any of the fingers that hold the respective ring (in place of the middle finger is the middle and ring fingers held together. This is why the middle finger doesn’t hold any rings.)<br/>Roulette has a wide variety of powers and movesets (Including element manipulation, gravity changing, geometry warping, that mind trick, changing entire biomes, weather manipulation, standard status effects like blindness, poison, etc.) making it impossible to know what’s she’s up to when placed in the activity of combat. She may heal then take away, she may obliterate anyone in the enemy squad....<br/>She is also a bartender.<br/>적성은 이제 신 같은 인물입니다. 모자가 없어졌습니다. 영원히 빛의 불꽃의 빛나는 광채로 장식 된 황금의 멋진 반지로 대체 될 것입니다. 실제로 그중 4 개. 자신의 길에 서있는 사람은 끝없는 영광에 직면 할 것입니다. 델타 링은 모든 것을 말해줍니다.<br/>[EVENT #28: The Nureon Saga: Part 4 – Superbia, the Prideful]<br/>“We have a lot of things to cover here, dude. Between me, this stained-glass platform with your face on it, and this here individual, Virgo, I think someone has to come first. And it definitely ain’t you, Superbia.”<br/>Quincy said this in response to the utterly selfish human being(?) in sharp plate armor known as Superbia, a Cardinal Sin, one of the toughest found in Luminary in fact, due to his overwhelming authority over the laws of how things flow. In other words, he thinks the world is his and the world is happy to accept that. His selfish goals trace back to the life of The Student. His “moral code” (read: “knight in shining dark armor” with a cool sword and a high moral value. Kind of like a guardian.) was so broken by Superbia’s influence that its intentions were warped and twisted to better reflect what Superbia wanted from the world around The Student. Quincy fought hard against the corrupt warrior, and managed to subdue him inside the Deep Layer. Superbia believes that all beings from Lowercase who choose to view entertainment that pass the grey line of morality and values are sinful and should not have their interests taken into consideration. He also believes that if a more wholesome route to entertainment is overturned by something more “immoral”, then that decision is invalid and only contributes to the wants of the sinful. He has a point – and everyone IS sinful - but one must never force their opinions on others just because of what they want. Superbia only saw the mirror in everything he looked at (metaphorically), so in his vision of Luminary – which is where he and Quincy were fighting, by the way, everything goes his way. When his rage flares, his world changes and adds more enemies. Even the ones fighting below – especially Peach and her creations/family - didn’t see such a thing coming. Luckily she is the brunt of the force in her group. Meanwhile the other group, consisting of Seraph and co. tried to rest up in the Refined Sanctuary. However when the news got out that Luminary was being attacked and was in danger of being replaced, they jumped at the call and agreed to protect what was theirs. Quincy wasn’t so happy to see Superbia’s pride in action, so in response to that, he – earlier on – summoned Justice, a knight in plate armor that rode a black horse also decked out in armor (except the underside). Justice rode and<br/>attempted to strike Superbia, but Superbia jumped up and cut Justice’s horse’s underside, causing it to bleed profusely from underneath and forcing the rider to jump away from his horse. Quincy, also decked out in blue plate armor from head to toe, stopped to look after Justice’s horse. “The horse is only one part of me. I’m still alive.”, Justice said in a very regal and knightly manner. He took out his sword, but Superbia took out a double-barreled energy handgun whose exterior is about as grey and spiky as his armor, and shot at Justice to stun him. Quincy could only look in horror as Superbia’s twisted smug look totally weakened his confidence a bit. Justice then found himself being cut in all sorts of locations by Superbia’s sword, falling apart at his very knees. His sword wasn’t even launched at Superbia. His powers were totally outclassed by the Prideful’s. As Justice fell apart, Quincy could only cower as Superbia got close to him and said some rather mean things about him and the way the world is treating him. Namely, a turn of events prevented Quincy’s/The Student’s decisions from seeing the light. Superbia was quick to mock him for this, but Quincy felt like he needed to make a change. He struggled to make a decision over whether to use the Delta Force or to let his other powers shine forth. Something pushed him, and a movement of his right hand followed by two fingers up and a snap, and a mighty warrior, whose figure is only an outline encased in a solid pink. Regardless, despite the appearance of girly clothing, Virgo, a member of the Silver Halves, was quite ready to take on Superbia and end his reign of terror. She can block swords with her bare arms, fight excellently despite her clothing clearly not being suited for combat, and launch excellent energy attacks from her hands. Their fighting eventually took them to Lowercase A-3, which is a boy’s bedroom with the bed itself encased in blue bedcoverings. Virgo tries a kick combo, but Superbia blocks her attacks and responds with a sword combo. Virgo outright parries the blows and kicks him into the next area in the stained-glass portal (you will know about these a lot more). They continue to duke it out in Lowercase B-2, aka what the Confined<br/>Theater used to be. A small, yet still manageable movie theater currently showing two movies that manage to surprise and creep out Superbia when he gets knocked into the wall by Virgo. “Don’t be surprised. That’s what everyone’s into. Action. Admit it. You’re into it too. You’re just hiding it to get your “kids movie” agenda out of the way. But don’t worry. The masses in front of you don’t seem to care about your suggestions. And look at that, I just found out. Your decision was overturned, something not even your closest associate could help. She just left you behind to care about more important things.”, Virgo told Superbia. What she was saying felt so real to the Prideful that he became afraid. The “masses” (read: an entire high-school classroom consisting of 6 students older than 16) were projected into Superbia’s thoughts. He got up weakly and pointed his gun at the girl. “I don’t mind deleting another one of these moral bigots.”, he said. Virgo then snapped her fingers, her grace hiding her absolute fury, and said: “Run me over with that behind you. I’ll stand right here and watch you do it. No strings attached.”, while pointing to a cool-looking, sleek black bike that looks more like a lightcycle than a bike. “Go on.” Superbia then got on the bike, started it up, then rammed full speed into Virgo. Virgo doesn’t even budge from this, in fact the bike was unable to reach within 2 feet of her space. “See that? That’s a sign of your clear lack of touch with reality. If you can’t hit me with that bike, why bother trying to hit everyone else with your values and opinions?”, she said as she mortally shocked Superbia through his armor. This transistioned to Quincy doing just that through Virgo’s power. “It’s time for you to learn a lesson.”, he said through Superbia’s utter look of anguish caused by him getting jammed with so many positive qualities at once. He literally could not take this kind of power. It was overwhelming him...<br/>And turned him into a pool of fluid that indicated that he was definitely NOT human. He didn’t deserve to be called one, anyway. His armor is now<br/>a forgotten relic and the stained glass can reform now into a careful individual.<br/>10 Hours Later, after Luminary was restored back to normal following Superbia’s death... Quincy revealed to everyone in the Extant Room powers he had never seen before. He grew wings. Colorful, glowing wings that manage to erase the pupils from his eyes somehow. Glowing spheres with zodiac icons on them swirl around him as Team Seraph and Team Peach looked upon him in awe in the Refined Theater’s Extant Room. Quincy didn’t have time to think about his newfound situation, but the power told him to retreat somewhere else. Everyone is scared of what Quincy had become...<br/>He’s gone after that moment. The world felt like it stopped to everyone in the room. Nobody commented on Quincy’s mysterious ability. They were left SHAKEN.<br/>[FINAL EVENT: The Nureon Saga Part 5: Grand Finale]<br/>The Final Heist. These Heists aren’t developed for stealing, as the copied valuables stay put when they’re “taken”. Regardless, it’s a fountain of sin and punishment, the Reactor is. A great many souls have taken it upon themselves to unearth its potential... and have come up paltry. After all, it’s not simply a matter one can take into their own hands.<br/>Enter Markus, who discovered a method of entering the Deep Layer’s deepest area, the Danger Zone. It visually resembles a ‘90s computer screensaver, but inside it conceals a lot more. In the Extant Room, Markus revealed that because of his experience in the Final Heist (and by experience, I mean he nearly got killed by a sudden overload of power he experienced while wearing a “Delta” Ring. Quincy had to do the heavy lifting from then on, because Markus became a strange mix of aroused and drunk, for his Outer Soul, Beauty in Grace (or just Grace for short), had unearthed within him, and he was not prepared for it at all. He got better, he was challenged to fight this new soul after wielding her power for a few battles. He won over her by ripping her head off and then splitting it apart. From then on, he was almost done with his part of the mission.), he was the only one who could enter the Danger Zone. Delta so wanted to tag along, but she and Quincy, in their best efforts, had to stay behind. They knew Markus was getting himself in a tight position, but they both had no choice but to watch Markus’ exploits in the Presentation Room. Markus went through quite a lot. There was all of this scenery to take in, a little encounter with a robotic golem named Wrath who was swiftly defeated by the power of this bunny’s lightning rod. Wrath’s influence was removed from the Student and Markus could move on to the next thing: fighting blind, without any of his gear! This was because of the next Cardinal Terror on the list: Lust. Her units had shown up in the room that Markus was in, but as long as he knew where they were (this included taking hits to better gauge their location), he was perfectly fine. Once he got through with those units, he went off to the Danger Zone’s Fragment Room to take on Lust herself. It’s a room with rapidly changing panels that display all manner of racy content. But Markus wasn’t concerned, for the new mask he got by ripping off his bandanna shielded his vision. He literally was unaffected by everything she threw at him at first. AT FIRST. Turns out, she had an ace up her sleeve, because....<br/>Markus has a previously unparalleled resolve to keep doing what he knows is the right thing, and although there’s plenty of room to show off what this means, it all hinges on Markus’ true Outer Soul summoning: the brave soul who refused the hand of the wife of a powerful ruler while under slavery. An inspiration of sorts named Harmonius. An armored knight who was everything Justice wanted to be, he possessed a lance of great power and energy. Throwing it into the body of one of the worst sins of humankind was incredibly satisfying for Markus. It proved to be one of his best feats, for the flow of heroes coming in to defeat the last opponent was by no means meager. They still had a job to do though...<br/>….for the last opponent, Superbia’s representative, was indeed the one who committed all sorts of unforgivable conduct in the past, so much that he jumped to the new timeline to see what kinds of michief he could pull next. He ripped apart one of his own friends in order to prove his warped sense of justice. In reality, he’s a never-do-well named Miles. The heroes have only one last thing to do, and that is to eliminate this last target. The day is almost over.<br/>Remember Nureon? He’s not so invulnerable now, so once he got defeated (by no means a small feat since he was positively gigantic), it was time to take on the man behind the monster.<br/>He has a habit of teleporting to all manner of past locations, including a boy’s bedroom, a large, wide-open arena, a dark room containing a huge, creepy machine that contains a beating heart, and more. His sword cuts deep. His eternal sin cuts deeper and his twisted corruption gives birth to the Resister, a demon of epic porportions. It’s becoming even more of a challenge to do harm to this monster than ever, for all of the sins he got away with in the past are coming back to help him. His final challenge awaits our heroes in the Final Arena, which is packed with flashy colors, excellent visual effects, and one very monstrous human being. You know what they say about humans...<br/>...They can apparently fuse with their ill-gotten pets in order to transform into otherworldly, wicked light-based beings with rings for a body and a sphere for a head. Those glowing, multi-colored wings around its center perfectly demonstrate his complete domination over the old timeline, to the point where its events, lined in stained glass, perfectly surround its rings. This golden titan had only one weakness, and Delta was in full supply of it...<br/>But we all knew about this result. Miles was no more after a few hours of near-constant fighting between the 6 heroes. Not that he was overwhelmed, but the Delta Rings took a huge toll on him and ripped him limb from limb. Then Markus decided to step in with the Gamma Ring, composed of the valuables he gained from the Heist to finish him off.... but not before Miles took his sword with his dying breath, and finished off Markus by piercing him in his chest. Another one bites the dust.<br/>The Danger Zone hasn’t gone anywhere, but it has transformed into a much safer environment. Delta saw this transformation with her own eyes and saw great use of it.<br/>Another day passes. The Refined Theater’s second floor has now been completed, but the day the heroes get to explore it has been delayed until further notice....</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Rhythm Never Sleeps</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Metaphysical<br/>Part 3 – Rhythm Never Sleeps<br/>Written by Silver<br/>[March 1st: INVERSE]<br/>Delta, in the top floor of the Refined Sanctuary, moved her desk aside in order to summon a portal to somewhere in the Metaverse. It was a blue, hexagonal portal to a place legendary for its clean content perfect for Heists (basically art shopping, not actual thievery). It was known as Inverse (because it’s the inverse of the Reactor/Danger Zone.). A massive museum shaped like a castle, all blue. It could be seen from miles away in that section of the Metaverse (Fuzzy). All sorts of things could happen in there, so Delta decided to investigate. Her findings were very intriguing, as she was able to detect a mass of all kinds of forces in her investigations. “I don’t have Greek symbols for all of these...!”<br/>Later on, she discovered yet another portal... to a world that is completely white with black outlines, hand-drawn. Delta knew an investigation was up, due to that place being known for its controversy. She FELT like going insane over this, but keeping her composure was the key to completing this journey. Indeed, the main cause for concern are some rather “juvenile” folk located there that gave Delta a reason to look further into the issue. She enabled her Outer Soul, Triangle Perimeter, to give her an edge in combat against the Red Partials. (The partials here are color coded, they can be any species they so desire. The ones that spawn here are mostly horses.) Despite attempts to talk her out of it from Sunderance, who followed her there, she eventually went into the deeper rooms within the Metaverse Stage (a labyrinth<br/>made in a unique style), and lo and behold, exactly what she was looking for, the Stage’s Delta Ring, which is also hand-drawn, allowing it to stick out like a sore thumb outside of the stage.<br/>Later on, she encountered Shionite, a spherical, wicked entity that spawns embodiments of the past sins to fight Delta with. She already defeated two of his minions before he summoned a Delta clone with fox ears and a tail. “That’s you, after this is all done.”, the entity said. Continuing with proud resolve, Delta and her clone fought each other with great energy.<br/>And then, she felt the change. A change that would only slightly impact the way she feels, honestly. Everyone’s an animal, so it wouldn’t hurt to be one here, either.<br/>[March 2nd:DIALOGUE #1] “I saw a hooded figure standing there, holding a deck of cards. I didn’t even know why he was there, but he just was standing there, in the middle of the Refined Sanctuary. I tried talking to him, but all he said was “Millennium’s repository needs some spring cleaning.”. He led me to it and commanded me to summon my Outer Soul, Strata. It’s a huge, blue robot with jet wings and a huge arm cannon. It entered “Delete Card” mode, which doesn’t do any harm but permanently wipes Delta Cards away from the side of the Metaverse it’s on. This masked fellow aimed Strata’s arm cannon at the affected Cards and removed them<br/>Commented [AG1]: Follow Up (Preview): Type your follow-up, and then press Tab.<br/>from Millennium. It’s the very same cards that Markus had gotten a power surge from last month...<br/>Meanwhile Peach changed her name to Vita again, and the last time I saw her she was holding that sword whip that I have no idea where it came from. Her crea—er, family has grown up a bit since the last time I saw them, although she might be hiding a secret from me that causes her powers to grow exponentially. I DID get a report from Delta about her world’s Miracle Couple...”<br/>-- Sunderance<br/>[March 3rd: WISH GRANTED]<br/>Many things are reported to Sunderance (who is also named Seraph) from Delta.<br/>“There are two sources of the Delta force here in the Metaverse. There are the Cards, which provide temporary sources of power. They are interchangeable yet non-disposable. Then there are Delta Rings. These are the ones that can stay with you for uncountable amounts of time.”<br/>She places one such ring on a machine in the Extant Room. The cylinder-shaped gear-loaded vertically mounted craftwork, outfitted with stainless steel, it takes the ring and spins around in place. Each of the gears on it spin, light up, and darken the room. Neon lights throughout the Extant Room reveal the minimalistic animal patterns scattered throughout the lobby, in a flashy display of green colors. The walls light up, too. They also have the animal patterns on them. It was like a jungle-themed area in a children’s room. “I should show you the second floor.”, Delta said to Sunderance. They both go up the stairs behind the lobby, and the second floor is revealed to Sunderance... and so is everyone else. “HOW DID EVERYONE GET HERE SO QUICKLY?!”, Sunderance yelled. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him. They turned back to their things as Delta face palmed. Sunderance walked the room in awe. The walls were digital, and displayed a blue background with slightly translucent grey squares trailing over it alongside those animal patterns, faint but visible in the background. It was a clean sight. The room itself contained a variety of decorations pertaining to the Presentation on the first floor, complete with clips from it sometimes playing on the walls of the room. It was a complete miracle for Sunderance to witness, because believe it or not the Student is 1) still out there and 2) viewing the world through Sunderance. “I also want to give you these.”, Delta said. She gave Sunderance 6 special cards that depicted scenes from another Presentation, one about a fox family. He quickly looked through the cards and detected two that were compatible with him. They were Impact Cards, and they taught very special, permanent abilities to those that were compatible with them.<br/>--- Tossed Salad: “Knock down your enemy with one of 5 impressive whip combos. Only those that use whips can use its abilities.”<br/>--- Melee Counter: “When your enemy strikes you once, fire back and retaliate with whatever you have on your hand. Not compatible with projectile users.”<br/>--- Contact!: “Lay explosives around your downed enemy and blow them to smithereens. Guaranteed to kill your enemy. Only Sunderance, Delta, Quincy and Vita can currently use this card.”<br/>--- Footwork: “Increase speed to better dodge enemy attacks. A steady foot does little to avoid getting cut.”<br/>--- Clever Thievery: “Steal whatever items the enemy has on hand. Only works during casual enemy encounters.”<br/>--- Cartoon Hyperactivity: “Trap a non-downed enemy in a big ball of fighting that harms them multiple times. Can be used in conjunction with “Contact!” for double the cost.”<br/>Sunderance gave himself all but two of the abilities listed on the cards (Footwork, Contact!, Melee Counter, and Cartoon Hyperactivity) and proceeded to give Tossed Salad to Vita. She took it rather well, but since her family needed some abilities as well, Sunderance gave them a chance to learn a thing or two. All 4 took 2 of their choice. “Should I<br/>keep these so that I can stockpile them?”, Sunderance asked. “Do what you want with them. They’re yours. I got them from a Presentation that I went to the Refined Mall to pick up. I also retrieved these.”, Delta explains to Sunderance as she gives Sunderance 5 Echo Cards. “Echoes are now different from Outer Souls. Those with an Outer Soul can summon up to 5 Echoes, those without can summon up to 3, and while each Echo has a specific number of spells to learn, Outer Souls are flexible, and can adjust depending on the situation. When an Outer Soul is out, up to three Echoes can be summoned from these cards. When your Outer Soul is not active, you can summon up to 5. All of these are foxes, they move rather stiff and they carry a signature on the back that’s claimed to be from a well-known author... I’m not quite sure what these 5 are capable of, but use their power well.”, Delta explains.<br/>Meanwhile, Wolf and Mouse hang in limbo in the Deep Layer, having been sent there when they died. “One day we’re gonna get out of this place.”, said Wolf to Mouse. “I’m sorry about the day I turned evil on you. It was a thing I couldn’t really control--” “Look.”, said Mouse to Wolf. “If you can act right between now and the time we get out, we’re totally in league.”, Mouse said. However, a truly malevolent, grey force rushed in from the Deep Layer’s crevasses. “I shall become one again. My makeover shall be complete, and my reign shall dominate the land above.”, a menacing, legionnistic voice bellowed. The grey matter engulfed Wolf and Mouse, and continued to spread, with the unaware residents of Exodus City continuing their lives above the terror.<br/>[March 4: RITE OF PASSAGE]<br/>“There’s a huge surge of grey matter coming in from the Presentation Room! Unfortunately, me and the Several would die from this, so we’re going to retreat to our Soul Canvas!”, Vicky warned the group, as the resulting sky beam changed the City as they knew it. It was completely covered with the Grey Matter. Worse yet, familiar-looking enemies began to spawn, and the whole team, with Tiffany, Shay-501 and Razor joining the cause.<br/>Wolf and Mouse, having been swept away by the Grey Matter, eventually land in two separate locations. Wolf, now a fully anthropomorphic wolf, is named Lupus and has landed in a forest. He is astonished by his new appearance, but at least he got his sword back. Which he was going to need by the time he looped around the forest, as five Entropies showed up. Between this, the trees falling down, and another group of Entropies showing up in speeder bikes chasing a running Lupus down a fully cut-down forest, Lupus thought something was happening to the world. His realization came true when he leaped off a cliff and spawned at the road to what is left of Exodus City. Like he expected, the City was covered in grey matter. He was shaken, despite<br/>never having known the reason behind this. He rushed over to the City to try and help.<br/>Mouse went through the same thing Wolf did, having been renamed Rodentia. He went on a mission to exit the house he was in – he was small and the place was huge – in order to get to the next station. From the boy’s room to the living room to the kitchen, flipping and walking on walls and jumping throughout to pick up speed, Rodentia knew he had to stock up on weaponry. He pulled the drawer out from the counter... and sighed. The weapons there were too big for him to wield, so he jumped off, headed to the dining room and did some jumps getting to the door. The door lead to another boy’s room in a different house. Some Entropy dodging later, and Rodentia took a look at the tablet there on the bed. It rocketed him out of the room, took him travelling through space and time, and landed him right on the rooftops of one of Exodus City’s buildings. He dodged an enemy attack and retaliated with a punch – his frying pan had vanished when he got sent to the Deep Layer.<br/>Another sky beam caught the eye of everyone fighting and claimed the lives of all Entropies nearby. A masked fox has made her appearance in front of the Refined Sanctuary, which used to be blocked off by a gray force field. Everything was comic-book styled. “Who are you?”, Sunderance asked. “More on that later. For now, all of you are critically endangered. Our founding father has split the Miracle Couple again. Thanks to me, they’re never getting back together.”, she said in an eerily calm voice. “Here with me, as you know, is Pro-Choice. Pro-Life took a dip and infested this world with the Grey Matter. We’re making a whole new environment suitable for us. If you want to join us, be our-<br/>-”, she was about to say in that same calm manner before getting slammed into by an energy projectile. Everyone jumped down to witness the event. As the crew walked in the building, The Foreigner screamed: “Are you in denial again?!”. Walking inside the building with grace hiding demonic levels of anger is none other than Vita, still wearing her helmet and armor. She pulls out her sword, stares down The Foreigner with completely malicious intent and says: “Who died and made you responsible for the creation of upwards of 179,000 different layers?!”, she said furiously as she summoned Amelia – notably more grown up here than she was in January – and changed the entire Sanctuary into one of its alternate forms, a large cathedral with no chairs. “I want you to exit this room and never bother us again.”, she said. Vita and the Foreigner clashed with their whips, marking every strike true and with the bravery of a true warrior. Amelia attempted to help Vita once she was downed, but the Foreigner rather painfully throws her to the back wall. Vita tensed up upon seeing this, as she didn’t want to lose one of her creations. She carefully made Amelia return to her Delta Ring. Continuing their battle, Vita is suddenly hit by something. It was a massive surge of Grey Matter, powerful enough to knock her down and break her helmet. A fox just like the Foreigner. Having no idea how to control it, the power surged all over her body and forced her to run out of the Refined Sanctuary.<br/>She paced all around the loop surrounding Exodus City, teeming with Grey Matter. As her speed got faster, the city ground began moving. Every member of the main crew noticed this, and were amazed to see it happen. However, Vita was getting increasingly stressed from the forced running. Eventually, the existing skybeam got stronger so she<br/>ran headlong into it. Forcefully getting knocked backwards back into the Refined Sanctuary into the Presentation Room where everyone can see her unconscious body next to a broken big screen, Vita was quite furious. She got up, pushed Sunderance aside and demanded to know where the Foreigner was. Upon revealing her location, Vita jumped towards the masked villain and kept battling, the colors grey and white jumping out from each of the rooms. “I need to know what’s going on here.”, Razor asked. Several crew members could relate to him. “Basically, Vita hates her guts.”, Sunderance responded. Vita and The Foreigner, having already tussled between two different environments (one being a prison camp and the other being the tower of a castle), finally reach their conclusion when Vita takes off The Foreigner’s cloak.<br/>She’s the new second-in-command of the Grey Matter, Rebecca, a white fox that hides pure villainy underneath her face. That she does when Vita has a revelation. A moment of silence on her behalf. “Have I been deceived?”, she asked herself. Upon being knocked out by Rebecca, though, “Team Delta”, that is, the group of heroes outside the Grey Cavity, uncovered the main problem: a portal underneath Exodus City created by the skybeam lead them right to the Grey Cavity. They continued looking for Vita and Rebecca, unaware of their current situation.<br/>Vita has had enough of being trapped in one place and forced to wait for a ritual where she will be sacrificed to “the Volatile” and made into a thousand more Entropies. She was practically screaming at her, breaking out of her confinements and shouting at Rebecca. (what she<br/>shouted is up to your interpretation.) Either way, Rebecca revealed her implements on her back allowing her to walk like a spider on her back. No matter how many times she forced Vita back, Vita would always power through and head for the exit. She knew she had to get out of there fast, but Rebecca was catching up to her quick. Eventually, Vita made it... out of the Refined Sanctuary?!<br/>Her mind couldn’t handle the pressure of having to read through the 2nd of those books that Clarence had made. She was dog-tired, more stressed than an office worker, and clearly wanting out of this gray-infested apocalypse that Rebecca had imposed. Her levitation in the sky had not gone unnoticed by Team Delta. They had gone back to the surface upon going to Vita’s prison room and finding no-one there. As Vita trapped herself in a surreal prison sphere in the air where the skybeam is, Delta noticed that Vita was bleeding. That red spot where the Refined Sanctuary’s entrance was told her everything. She was going to die.<br/>The final area had been unveiled to Team Delta. Rebecca and Pro-Choice moved to that location to wait for Team Delta, and the only thing left for our heroes to do was enter the skybeam.<br/>The Absent Sleeper was a pretty huge, 4-layer dungeon. There were coat hangers EVERYWHERE, including the walls and the ceiling. “Something tells me that this guy has a thing for abortion.”, Sunderance said with a sarcastic tone. “That is nothing to joke about.”, Delta admonished.<br/>The monsters here are quite creepy. There were foxes hanging off of walls, a waterfall filled entirely with coat hangers, and a gigantic eyeball staring at the heroes as they walked on by. It was quite unsettling, what with the droning sound radiating throughout the crypt. What’s more, there were enemies to be fought. These were the manifestations of the Volatile’s influence upon the dungeon. This would come to a head in the final layer.<br/>“Go back up and never come back down here again. Our founding father split up the Miracle Couple, just to prove how badly a relationship can fall apart. Their baby will never—“, Rebecca shouted to Sunderance, but the hero lunged at her and kept tussling at her. This continued until Rebecca revealed her powers awhile after. She turned the entire arena, which had a space vibe to it, and turned it into a greyscale nightmare. It was inspired by the works of an artist known for the... “creative” way he draws his comic panels. As such, while many congratulate him on his impressive artwork, the storyline of one such comic... brought us here. Rebecca actually floated up in the air for most of her battle. Her girlfriend Pro-Choice did most of the fighting here, and boy was she TOUGH. Electric balls, wing attacks, razor wind projectiles and even a precision laser. All of this plus more made her formidable, but not formidable enough for Silver (as Angel) to dash in and make short work of her. Sunderance then jumped up, took Rebecca<br/>down, and attempted to blow her up with Contact. It didn’t work, as Rebecca primed herself against the explosion. She survived it all and retaliated with a time stop movement. She raised one finger, and all time for Sunderance and Team Delta stopped right in its tracks. Angel had already defeated Pro-Choice, but he was too late to stop her from altering the flow of time. Rebecca flipped Angel over and was about to execute him right then and there, but then a certain someone revealed he was not quite dead, with a new Echo to boot that he obtained with strenuous force.<br/>“Oh hello there you son of a gun, I’m currently here to send you out of here and nothing more. You may call me Markus. Some nutjob thought he could kill me, but the Deep Layer’s Grey Matter saved me from limbo.”<br/>Markus rushed in from the Deep Layer, armed with naught but the Miracle Couple themselves as Echoes. Everyone was surprised at this, Rebecca especially. These two existing meant that Rebecca’s proof of existence was at stake. Simply put, this arctic fox was shivering in fear. The time stop wore off. Markus reared back and pierced Rebecca’s body with a spear as big as he is, gifted by the two and only. Rebecca was no more after that, but her body was then crushed by a giant hand....<br/>“I CURRENTLY DEMAND MORE THAN YOU HAVE.”<br/>Volatile’s screaming was met with astonishment from Team Delta. This half-revived cat was full of insanity and unrelenting desire to maim and maul and basically be a giant talking combo meal because that’s exactly what Markus has in mind. Never mind the giant hand lasers, the eye beams, the contact damage from the hands, or even “Happily Ever After”, where Volatile spins his hands around and commands thunder from the sky, which can heavily wound many members of Team Delta. Nevertheless, Markus knew exactly what he was doing. Especially since one of Volatile’s biggest flaws was that his head was fully detachable, which harmed the cat tremendously, in addition to its being light enough to be kicked around like a soccer ball. Kicking the head back into Volatile’s half-finished ethereal body actually worked just fine. “This kitty won’t be coming back anytime soon. If anything, it’s going to be exiled to another point in the space of existence!”, Markus proclaimed as Clarence once again met his end through careful planning and the smart moves of a rabbit with sarcasm.<br/>Exodus City was cleared of the grey matter, it doubled in size, and Vita was back in shape, though it took her a bit of time to recover. Delta made some arrangements so that this never happened again. Starting off with the erasure of all things related to the Grey Matter. Lupus and Rodentia were accepted back into Team Delta, though it took Lupus some time since he was formerly evil.<br/>[RITE OF PASSAGE EPILOGUE]<br/>Sunderance received a card in the Refined Sanctuary once he got inside. It depicted a rattle large enough to be used as a weapon. Suddenly, an unexpected guest the size of a toddler entered the room.<br/>[March 5: Roll Call]<br/>Meet Surge, a chipmunk with striped markings. As a child, he’s about 2.5 feet tall, maybe less. He’s one of those “juveniles” that Delta was referring to. And since he’s only two years old... he can still fight with lightning emanating from his fingers. (At his best, he can knock out power covering a small town.) His best power is to turn himself older using the power of lightning. Being 5’1, his 25 years older self can take better hits, land stronger blows, and wield a lightning-conductive sword, called Volt. This Japanese sword can conduct electricity and boost itself. Thus, Volt is immune to lightning... but doesn’t take well to water. Thus, he has to limit his powers around a pool.<br/>The Juveniles are all babies. Or, at least, are adults that want to be babies. Thus, the Metaverse has given them the ability to do so. They<br/>can turn older at will, and use various abilities gifted to them through their own free will. This makes the children about as strong as adults.<br/>Another useful device to use in this grand scheme of things is a neat teleportation/fast travel power called the Transfer Jump. It transports a user through a dimension filled with an animal print background as they spiral through and land on the other side. Very useful ever since Exodus City doubled in size ever since the Rite of Passage ended its terrorizing cycle.<br/>[March 6: Giving Every Man His Due]<br/>Surge’s objective is to find and recruit another Juvenile, a lion-rabbit hybrid named Crimea. She is 20 as an adult, 11 months as a child. Her primary weapon is an oversized rattle, but her skills are a whole lot more. Surge is describing this in detail to Sunderance, for the latter happens to be carrying a card with that rattle’s picture on it...<br/>The two make a Transfer Jump over to the nearest landmark: a subway in Exodus City leading up to a wall that, when Transfer Jumped through, leads to a Metaverse Junction. The two make the jump through the wall, and this is where the fun begins.<br/>The dungeon is a labyrinth with a strange background, filled with different doors with terms on them that lead to different areas, none of them safe for work. Sunderance advises Surge to stay safe while wandering through the dungeon, looking for Crimea while on it. Sunderance, leaning on a wall, checks his phone and writes the message: “Where’s the advice that you used to give me?”. Surprisingly enough, he gets a response back. “I’ve found a new way to contact you. Strata, your Outer Soul, is actually me. Quincy and I have been separated and placed in the two different worlds ever since that Greek-named guy got put to sleep by Delta. I’ll keep giving you advice. For example, get out of there!”, the message read. Strata then appeared to Sunderance and went to find Crimea himself, with Sunderance following. The areas that Sunderance went in were quite dangerous. They were mostly platforms suspended over bottomless pits.<br/>Sunderance and Surge, however, got a shock to their systems when a laser camera hit Sunderance in the eye. Strata shot out the camera, but it was too late. Now in a grey void, Sunderance stood and reached behind him, slamming a mysterious individual in front of him. “You’re the culprit behind this!”, Sunderance said. This Soul Fragment, a piece of someone’s soul, was named the Chained Prisoner. Strata warned Sunderance that this guy could actually kill him in about three hits. Sunderance was now in fear for a minute... but Strata’s got this. After all, the two were literally the same height. Prisoner wields a ball and chain, Strata wields an arm cannon...<br/>And Crimea came in that room hopping mad. She could save herself being the typical strong female character... except she was anything but typical. As she retrieved her card back from Sunderance with a “Thank You”, she launched her rattle at the Prisoner, unaware that the Prisoner was, like the Danger Zone enemies that Markus fought a month before, a manifestation of The Student’s sins. Something that can’t be erased, and yet can be fought off.<br/>And fought off it was. Strata and Prisoner clashed at each other, launching out heroes back into another room. Strata was there, lying there from the events of the battle. He had won, but still had some work to do. Namely, there are 5 Juveniles to recruit, and three were still missing.<br/>Meanwhile, Silver, back at Unity with Mako, was looking around at all the things he made, including the Impact Cards, the portal system, the Metaphysical Joint Connector, which works between worlds, and finally, a map of Exodus City, which still shows the old layout. “I’m still working on that.”, Silver thought to himself. Goes to show that scientists are not perfect.<br/>[March 7: BIO FOR CRIMEA]<br/>CRIMEA<br/>AGE: 11 MONTHS (CHILD), 20 YEARS (ADULT)<br/>WEAPON: RATTLE (CHILD), WIND POWERS (ADULT)<br/>Crimea is very good friends with Surge, and they work to protect each other when necessary. They, along with several other Juveniles, were once embroiled in a strange event where monsters bigger than they were attacked their daycare and abducted their good adult friends (some of whom are also juveniles). Regardless, by herself, Crimea is strong, hardworking, never gets lost, and knows her way around a battle, even when all she has to wield is herself. That being said, she can use anything as a weapon.<br/>[March 8: Il spazio oltre la realtà]<br/>Solaris is a force. Bare lightning made real, it is neither good or evil, but a change. A coping skill against traumatizing events. It knows of the part with the Parasite Disc, and knows exactly how to eliminate the issue of having those nameless fiends come back up again. The dreamlike state Solaris puts him in is quite a sight. The waters of the ocean topped by dolphins and the outline of the sun, which splits in half to reveal the Blue Crown. This is what heals. The relaxing comfort of<br/>knowing there’s always someone there to save them from the Chained Bus. The vehicle that leads to a dangerous site. A moment of impact generated by hatred. There is something Solaris wants to show you, Seraph.<br/>Alas, the door leading to the outskirts of reality! Clouds backed by a clear sea of ripples. The glass floor reveals three doors on the “walls”. One for Routine. One for Productivity. One for Spirituality. It just dawned on you, Seraph. This is the Gate of Prayer, and it’s been locked up for a crazy amount of time. You’ve gotta unlock those doors, but not now. Right now, you have a mission ahead of you. Cleanse your side of the Metaverse, Luminary, and then return to the Gate. You’ve gotta maintain this place for as long as possible. Otherwise, turmoil may never fade....<br/>[March 9: Walking Beat for piano and low harmony]<br/>But that mission did not last long, when Seraph returned to the Gate with the help of Solaris. When he got there, the Door to Productivity was open. When he opened it, he was transferred to a large ocean, with the biggest change being that he was a dolphin now! As a dolphin, he’s able to do dolphin things; the only change is that his communication with Solaris is purely mental.<br/>“Your missions shall be completed in the openness of Productivity.”, Solaris said.<br/>“As a dolphin? Really?”, Seraph said rather confusingly.<br/>“It’s a metaphor. Roll with it.”, Solaris explained.<br/>The journey around Productivity was not easy. Each area was like a maze, and the 2D backgrounds were abstract. The ocean wasn’t safe, either – there were enemies to delete such as Silver Eyes (metallic orbs that shot lasers), Morphos (xenomorphs that shot lasers and clawed at Seraph), and more. He does not need to worry about oxygen, for the water quite literally is air. This was reinforced in the later areas, which indeed took place in the air. The boys’ room was only there to serve how awful it was to control a dolphin in 3D. “Do NOT use that perspective again. Getting to the window was the HARDEST part!”, Seraph frustratingly vented. He eventually made it to a machine, one of a few here that hampered productivity in Lowercase, more specifically, the Student’s. “So if I bust up this bot, it’ll make me grow a whole lot stronger?”, Seraph asked. “It may.”, Solaris responded. “Your training will be here from now on. Machines will get in your way, so you must stop them and destroy them.”<br/>Cardinal, as it’s called, mostly uses arrow projectile patterns to disorient and confuse its opponents. Being a wall-mounted machine, it has turret guns installed on it that can be destroyed. When they are, Cardinal gains spider legs and crawls all over the wall that it’s mounted<br/>on. Since Cardinal is connected to what appears to be a coral reef (It looks like a painting of the ocean floor), the reef reappears when Cardinal is destroyed, alongside a noticeable increase in Seraph’s level of strength. “It’s like a growth spurt!”, he chimes.<br/>A few more mazes after, and Seraph found himself outside of a building in the city of Freedom, which highly resembles Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “Alright, you’ve shifted into your soul form. Only you and I can see it. Nobody else. Follow where I tell you to go, and you will see later what the purpose is. There’s a movie theater here that’ll lead you back where you came.”, Solaris warned Seraph. All Seraph has to do then was turn left, go down the road, turn left again and look for the big sign on the right that indicated that the theater was close by. Upon entering, however, Seraph was blown back to the Gate, still in his soul form. “The door to Spirituality is now accessible, but you shouldn’t go there now. Try testing your newfound strength over in Routine and see how it goes.”, Solaris tells Seraph before he enters Routine again and sees Delta and Vita fighting a Roulette clone. One usage of a brand new skill he learned, Grand Orbit, and it left the girls wondering where he learned such a move and how he got to be stronger than even Delta. “My secret.”, Seraph replied.<br/>The Door to Spirituality was wrought with a test, however. Angel was standing there, somehow gaining knowledge of the Gate of Prayer’s insides. He tested Seraph by challenging him to a duel. Training at the Gate of Prayer had its own little side-effects. He was able to utterly<br/>outmatch Seraph in every way, form and fashion. “You failed the first test, but you can still visit this room. Come back anytime.”, Angel said.<br/>[March 10: Quest for the Heart in B minor]<br/>Another day in Productivity (Productivity II), another machine to destroy.<br/>However, that’s not the main point right now. Delta has a bit of info to share with Seraph.<br/>“Wanna know how you summon Echoes? It’s through those cards installed in that special device of yours called a Delta Belt. It’s not a belt at all, it’s an energy circle above you that stores your cards where you know you can find them. All Adepts like you, me and everyone here at the Refined Sanctuary have one, and it’s incredibly vital. Those Junctions have tons of stuff contained in them, and those finds aren’t going to harvest themselves. Delta Cards, Impact Cards and Echo Cards can be found in the Junctions, but don’t enter the Corridors. By the way, dead Echoes don’t regenerate, so be careful.” Vita must’ve kept that in mind fighting the Foreigner last week.<br/>Meanwhile, Seraph got to test his newfound strength on his next target, the entire Realm of Spirituality, since he couldn’t be a dolphin in there following his distressful trip through a Metaverse Corridor. He was ashamed of such a thing, but given how messy the Spirituality Door was in the first place, he felt that something needed to change.<br/>The actual realm is a surreal-looking landscape where the grass is bluish-purple, the sky is white and blue, and the enemies are 8-bit. The solution? Go pixellated with it and take up 8-bit weaponry, including Seraph’s new energy gun made of jewels. It has options for manual fire and automatic fire. It looks like a pistol but can he held like a rifle. It has infinite ammo.<br/>The same knights, mages, orbs and orcs from last time come back as Partials, and Seraph couldn’t be more happy to take them down and reclaim that door.<br/>[March 11: Il più grande peccato di tutti]<br/>Seraph’s greatest enemy in a location next to the Door of Spirituality would be none other than himself. After a great uproar that the entirety of the Gate of Prayer could hear, the grass started dying, and<br/>the Student’s metaphysical heart began to shatter. SOMETHING was trying to destroy the Gate.<br/>“I thought we had something going on. The comfort zone is being violated, and you have only one chance to prove yourself! I’m gonna reforge this thing while you set things the way I had them!”, the being said. “Superbia?”, Seraph asked. The clone’s identity was obvious, going by his grey fur color matching the Sin’s armor color. “Whatever you may call me, I still call the shots around here. How about you fix the Comfort Zone--”, Superbia was interrupted by Seraph, saying: “I’m not fixing anything to make a selfish wretch like you happy. Besides, Solaris told me that you were a piece of the real deal broken off and made into a separate being!” “That’s exactly right.”, Solaris replied. “Sin Fragments like this guy are near-impervious to most things, and that’s because of exactly what you said. I never gave you that advice, but it’s pretty interesting you were able to pin that down. Let me at him, he’ll pulverise you.”, as he equipped his armor and set out after the guy. Their duel carried them through different areas outside of Luminary. They even passed through the area itself as Delta noticed the two fighting each other for that very split second. She had previously sent Razor and Surge to find the third Juvenile, who has been identified as Oscar. Seraph warped to Luminary to join the two as a third wheel.<br/>Meanwhile, Solaris and Seraph’s clone had warped themselves to a skyscraper, air jousting with their swords as they rotate around the building. The clone snaps his fingers and watches as the environment folds in on itself while the two keep swiping at each other while darting about in the air. Eventually they land on a completely large, flat and futuristic platform, both combatants 8-bit. Their duel was quite<br/>cinematic, the type of thing that would be perfect for a movie. That is, until Solaris kicks the clone into a 3D environment. The clone falls off of the platform and lands on the ground below. The cliff isn’t that big, but it provides some high ground for those wanting a more fitting challenge, especially with ranged weapons. The clone went back up, only to get launched into the background with one hit from Solaris. He was about to take a break, but then the clone just warped back on the cliffside, having taken not a spot of damage. As the clone was about to prepare another attack, Seraph suddenly appears to seal him away into another dimension using his Delta Belt. The sheer amount of pain that the clone felt upon entering the dimension was enough to cause him to permanently fade. Solaris could do nothing but thank Seraph for his complete change of pace and outstanding demonstration of power.<br/>5 Hours Later......<br/>Delta reports a new find in the world of Inverse. “Seraph, I want you to see this. It’s a card that has special properties.” Seraph takes a good look at it and is amazed. It was a discovery that could never be left behind. The Juveniles treat this very highly.<br/>It was an Epsilon Card.<br/>[March 12: Those who act like babies]<br/>The Epsilon Cards are connected to a location known as the Astral Daycare. It’s the place where all the Juveniles hang out, isolated from Fuzzy. It’s a sight to behold, for there’s nothing wrong with its inhabitants despite rumors and claims. There’s power in these Epsilon Cards.<br/>Delta, Seraph, Razor, and Markus have been tasked to investigate this location. So far, it’s a wide open area, filled with children’s toys and decorations on the walls. Yes, everyone is small in a huge room. “I see a whole lot of baby stuff, but no Juveniles. At least, not yet.”, Seraph says. “Well, maybe it isn’t playtime for the children yet.”, Delta observes. The investigators dash to another room on the left, and sure enough, the entire room is filled with sleeping Juveniles in their child forms, complete with cribs. “How about we keep this place protected. These Juveniles, however strong they may be, don’t need any more trouble coming from something like the Partials.”, Razor warns. “Good observation, so how about we--”, Delta says before she turns around and sees the place filled with Silver Eyes. “How in the world did they see us coming?”, Delta asks, quite surprised. “Who is “they”?”, Seraph asks. “”They” are the Fire Squad, basically a team of delinquents who think they can just simply infiltrate whatever world they feel like and burn it to the ground. They don’t like the Juveniles for one reason and one reason only. Simply put, when you see a guy like him (she points to one of their rank that Razor is busy fighting), you put everything down and take him on. They don’t take well to those white undergarments<br/>they wear. I’m not using that word.”, Delta warns. “You had better not!”, the Squad member shouts. “Alright, where do I start?”, Seraph asks before taking out his bow (everyone has a bow), sniping the Silver Eyes, then tackling the Fire Squad Member out of Razor’s way before doing a sword combo on the Member, then launching him into the air, taking him into the ceiling. “That’s actually quite practical. Stealth often means peace and quiet for the little ones.”, Delta notes. “Where’s Markus?”, Razor asks.<br/>Markus is searching around the Daycare, looking for Oscar. He wasn’t in the Sleeping Area, so he must be in one of the other rooms. Quiet as a mouse, Markus wonders if maybe he’s been taken by some kind of force. After all, Oscar has a tight connection to one of the Juveniles. They say that their bond is like spouse... Markus readies his powers for whatever may come his way...<br/>One can hear what sounds like muffled screaming coming from the interior of the Astral Daycare.<br/>[March 13 (Friday): ᛏᚺᛟᚢ ᛋᚺᚨᛚᛏ ᛒᛖ ᚨ ᚾᛖᚹ ᛋᛈᛁᚱᛁᛏ]<br/>Markus morphs into a dolphin (how is he able to do this?) and travels into the depths of the Red Disaster. It’s a metamorphosis of different dark colors, including dark blue, red, and black. It’s like a twisted painting connected by a web of faux-graffiti. Markus continued to investigate, and as the background changes into a pure red tangled web of spray graffiti, the different horrors underneath the Red Disaster are revealed to Markus. Hands, feet, and other appendages line the walls of the most dangerous place known to the Juveniles. Some of these monsters tried to attack Markus, but he would always dodge and fight back. He was never one to back down from conflict.<br/>Eventually, Markus reaches the bottom. As he morphs back into his regular form, Quincy of all people is sitting in a chair, having seen Markus’ journey from top to bottom. “How did you know I’d be here?”, Markus asked. “I needed a rest. A respite from lingering in one room all the time, waiting to have a turn in the action. I came here, knowing exactly what lies beyond this malformed lattice... If my verbosity sounds outlandish to you, that’s because I’ve gained new knowledge. The understanding required for you to change your skill set. Allow me to fix your lackluster powers. You possess super speed and electricity abilities. Unfortunately, that’s not going to provide you enough to counteract the sheer amount of danger you’re going to have to face here. And by that, I mean you need something greater.”<br/>The ability to command radiant forms of energy with the mind has been granted to Markus as his main power. Good thing, too. The rest of the<br/>investigation team met up with both rabbits only to also learn from Quincy that Oscar, their third Juvenile, has been taken away by a monster that despises males with males. “But not females with females. Is it a sex thing?”, Seraph asks. “Yes. This monster is primarily associated with the male hormone that channels desire. It took Oscar, and now it’s going to find a female partner to--”, Quincy explains. “If his partner is male, we are going to do the right thing and reunite them.”, Delta says.<br/>Sonnakoth. Among many, this one. Oscar was trembling at the feet of this beast. His staff couldn’t save him, even if it’s bound to him like a magnet. The investigation team found him at the Colorless Utopia at the end of the Red Disaster, and vowed to destroy this creature and take back one of the Daycare’s own. “There’s more of this place to explore, but right now we’re going to focus on the main mission!”, Delta warns everyone.<br/>⛧ Y ̶̡͓̫̈́̇̈́o ̶̰͙̏u ̵̲̂̒͜ ̵̲̂̒͜n ̷̮̩̤͌̽͆e ̵̬v ̷̨̑e ̴̯̍̿̃r ̷͓̞̆̋ h<br/>̵̲̂̒͜ ̷̹͔̐͜a ̶̡͓̫̈́̇̈́d ̵̝̀ a n ̷͓̞̆̋y o ̵̬t ̶̟̥́͘͝h ̵̷̲͓̞̂̒̆̋͜e ̴̗̱̦͊̄̇r ̷̹͔̐͜ o<br/>̴̯̍̿̃ p t ̶̡͓̫̈́̇̈́i ̸̠̙̑̓̕o ̷͓̞̆̋n ̴̯̍̿̃, ̴̗̱̦͊̄̇ d ̷͓̞̆̋i ̵̵̝̝̀̀ d ̴̯̍̿̃y o ̷̨̑ ̵̨̺̣̆́̔u ̵̝̀? ̵̝̀ A ̴̪̽̚l ̷̷͓̞̹͔̆̋̐͜ l<br/>̴̯̍̿̃ ̵̨̺̣̆́̔ ̶̟̥́͘͝ y<br/>̶̢͆̑̐o ̵̵̝̬̀u ̵̬ ̵̲̂̒͜ ̶̰͙̏s ̶̡͓̫̈́̇̈́i m<br/>̷͓̞̆̋ p ̴̮͓̄ͅl ̷̵̹͔͔̖̐̿͒͜y ̵̨̺̣̆́̔ ̷̨̑w ̴̪̽̚e ̴̵̷̨̯̺̣̮̩̤̍̿̃̆́̔͌̽͆n ̴̵̨̮͓̺̣̄̆́̔ͅ t ̶̢͆̑̐ t o ̴̗̱̦͊̄̇ ̵̵̝͔̖̀̿͒w ̴̯̍̿̃ ̸̯̠͍̇a s t h ̵̲̂̒͜e ̶̢͆̑̐ d e ̶̶̡͓̫̟̥̈́̇̈́́͘͝s ̶̰͙̏ e c ̸̵̯̠͍̬̇ r ̴̪̽̚a t i o n ̴̸̯̠̙̍̿̃̑̓̕ o f ̶̟̥́͘͝ a ̸̯̠͍̇ m ̴̶̢̪̽͆̑̐̚a n ̵̨̺̣̆́̔ ̷͓̞̆̋ ̶̰͙̏ w ̶̴̡͓̫̮͓̈́̇̈́̄ͅh ̴̪̽̚o ̶̰͙̏ ̵̲̂̒͜d ̷̨̑ i ̸̴̯̠͍̪̇̽̚d ̴̪̽̚ ̷̵̶̨͓̞̺̣̰͙̆̋̆́̔̏n ̷̨̑o ̶̢͆̑̐t ̴̶̡̗̱̦͓̫͊̄̇̈́̇̈́ f ̴̯̍̿̃o ̷͓̞̆̋l ̴̗̱̦͊̄̇ l o ̶̴̟̥̪́̽͘̚͝w ̵̝̀ ̴̸̸̪̠̙̯̠͍̽̑̓̇̚̕t h ̶̡͓̫̈́̇̈́ e ̷͓̞̆̋ ̵͔̖̿͒ i ̵̝̀n ̴̪̽̚s ̷̴̹͔̗̱̦̐͊̄̇͜ t<br/>̶̰͙̏ r u c t ̵̶͔̖̰͙̿͒̏i ̸̵̯̠͍̝̇̀ o<br/>̴̶̢̪̽͆̑̐̚n ̵̵̵̨̺̣͔̖̲̆́̔̿͒̂̒͜s ̴̵̯̝̍̿̃̀ ̷̮̩̤͌̽͆c ̷̴̮̩̤̪͌̽͆̽̚o ̴̪̽̚r ̵̬r e c t ̵̷̨̲̂̒̑͜l ̵̨̺̣̆́̔ y . ̶̢͆̑̐ ̴̯̍̿̃<br/>“He’s got a degree in threatening, that’s for sure!”, reassures Seraph.<br/>The fight did not take long. That’s because Oscar knew how to fight, too. As soon as the monster’s grip loosened on him, OScar regained his<br/>staff and physically ripped the monster’s limbs apart. “You didn’t have to move an inch, that trembling thing was just an act!”, he said as he finished the beast off by exploding him.<br/>He rushed towards Surge, hugged him tightly, and--<br/>“Alright, I think we can all agree that this reunion is super-heartfelt, but there’s still something I gotta warn you about. There are many Juveniles, but also many in the Fire Squad. They’ve been warring against each other ever since they’ve met each other. Unfortunately, Fuzzy still has many craters on its surface as of the results of the war. Ever since the thing happened, the inhabitants of Fuzzy, for the greater good, have forced the Juveniles to relocate. They did nothing wrong, but Fuzzy, being a pacifist nation, wants to protect itself from harm. Understandably, the Juveniles found themselves without a place to call home for a while. Until the Astral Daycare was created by a person whose name I can’t quite recall... You should meet the people that live there.”, the phone Seraph kept on him messaged him. “What’s with the delay?”, Seraph messaged back. “Life on Lowercase is quite busy. You have to bear with me.”, The Student answered back.<br/>[March 14: March of the Juveniles Part 1]<br/>Once upon a time, Seraph fought a member of the Fire Squad by himself in a white grid room after the guy taunted him about the mere fact that he has fur. A human in a crusader outfit. Imagine that! Strata had to encourage Seraph to stand up to this guy. In order to do that, Strata upgraded himself into his ultimate form, Aeolia. Then, he encouraged the rabbit to knock him down using his strongest weapon. Strike after strike did Seraph no good. That is, until he loaded a Delta Card into a bazooka he got from nowhere. One blast later, and Strata was launched backwards like a soccer ball. Joining the side of Seraph once more, the two valiantly fought the Fire Squad Member, who goes without a name in this unsung tale. Congratulating their victory...<br/>They go on to meet some adult babies!<br/>Let me rephrase that. They and the rest of the team go on to meet some interesting people. Let’s start with just a few of them.<br/>Tundra (m): Arctic fox that can control ice. His impressive armory of weapons are all made out of ice. He doesn’t take no for an answer. A stubborn individual like this one should definitely have determination in his heart! He does enjoy the outdoors and playing with his friends (in child form), though. As an adult - even when he’s still a lover, not a<br/>fighter - as a fighter, he is actually more powerful than Surge when he’s not powered up by his lightning.<br/>Cassie (f): Tall (5’9) Fox dotted in red spots that owns a motorcycle almost completely made out of swords. For each sword she takes, the motorcycle loses its form and becomes gradually unrideable. Her sweet and charming personality hides a strong sense of justice and quite a short fuse. As such, despicable actions drive her to rage that’ll only take a bullet to the head to fix. It’s that bad. Her child form actually has two different color schemes!<br/>Amanda (f): A squirrel that doesn’t really talk much. Not much is known about her, but there’s quotes going around saying that she has some sort of hidden power underneath her composure.<br/>Strengths, weaknesses, none of these things matter if they all stick together as a team. Simply put, none of these individuals can split apart except when forced to by the tides of war. They will become valuable forces when put on the front lines. They don’t refrain from the joys of playtime when the break in the action finds its way through, but the Fire Squad will keep them on their toes for ages to come.<br/>[March 15: March of the Juveniles, Part 2]<br/>Keeping watch over the Juveniles is the Coordination Clock. A timekeeper that synchronizes the Metaverse and keeps it in sync. Interlocked by energy gears and kept together by a wheel that never loses track of time, the Coordination Clock knows when the time is right.<br/>Also of note is Seraph’s connection to some mystical beings known as Avatiers. Avatier is made up of two words: “Ava” meaning “angel” and “tier” meaning “like (a/an)”. Avatier = “like an angel / angelic”. Needless to say, they are very powerful, very fast, very tough, and very kindhearted, although they rely on their strong sense of justice to make their commands known. “These strongmen responded to your mission to feed your craving for sin. The Lust Embodiment inside of you was dragged here and tortured under the command of these angelic beings. Clearly they know that it was tormenting your very soul. They despise the sinful conduct of others, but since they are a part of me, they can’t really do anything about the wrongfulness of others, but they can do something about the wrongfulness of your inner self as well as mine. Since the mission was about cleaning myself up as well as yourself, you’re not the only one fit for the job.”, Seraph’s phone messaged to him.<br/>“The council has decided your sin’s fate. Our overwhelming sense of justice was necessary to determine whether it was safe to flee away or to die by our hand. Should it infest you anymore, we will be there to handle the problem, and you can then rest easy knowing that we successfully shielded the Gate of Prayer from further destruction. By the way, kind fellow, the Door to Spirituality is now open and free for you to investigate. We did the heavy lifting when it comes to the enemy<br/>encounters.”, one of the Avatiers says to Seraph. Their room was positively gigantic; it was a sea of yellow clouds surrounded by these mentally-charged creatures. The Avatiers were armed with swords, chains, and their wings. The ground was a solid, glass-like platform that glowed like a diamond in a lit cave. The sky was beaming with white, radiant energy, and the place in general felt warm, like standing next to a hot fire.<br/>Seraph, upon synthesizing two more Echo Cards through a single Presentation, learned some new things about them while running some tests back at the Sanctuary.<br/>[March 16: Quest for the Best]<br/>“Echoes are temporary, like this one here beside me, a skunk that will become very important later. They have a limited skillset, and they mostly get their forms from other places, like Presentations. Impact Cards are the same way. Once an Echo dies, there’s no getting it back. Ever. Not through different forms, or using child and adult cards because they never grow up or revert, and no alternate forms, either. They won’t live to transform, so it’s vital to protect the ones you love.<br/>Echo Cards are made from blank ones by scratching the card against the surface of the Presentation. Discs and screencaps work just fine. To summon it, just wave the card around in a flashy manner. However, once it’s summoned once, it’s bound to the user and cannot be transferred. If it leaves the user’s side, it will just teleport to the user of the card. You can’t leave it behind. You must keep your prized possession. Echoes will stay loyal to you as will Outer Souls. Outer Souls are summoned through internal awakening. Once summoned, they are bound to the user as are Echoes, however there are no physical ways to summon an Outer Soul as they are a metaphysical part of the user. Outer Souls are limitless, fully augmenting important parts of the user into it. Their skillsets can change over time unlike Echo skillsets.”<br/>“Now let me write down an important part of my journey. Those Corridors have some hidden backstory behind their existence. Travel far enough, and you’ll see the 5 Podiums. Each engraved with a complex-looking energy circle, they stand atop the Central Station, where all sinful people have their cravings fulfilled. Having been led there by a Lust Embodiment, these people endlessly eat away the walls of the Corridors, never stopping until they’ve seen the light. Don’t ask what happens if a sinful individual sees the light. It’s not good. The Podiums keep track of everyone’s activities. Standing atop them all are 5 godlike entities. They all have names engraved on their suits of armor, each having a common theme to it, and they all punish those attempting to set “right” to their “wrongs”. They keep the Corridors safe and sound, and even watch over areas not connected to the Corridors to keep the sinful ones in check. The masses are misled, yet there’s nothing we can do about it. The corridors themselves are filled with a mysterious color.<br/>A color indescribable to the naked eye. It’s a spectacular color, yet dark in motives and enough to drive anyone insane. It’s probably what keeps the sinful ones coming...”<br/>[March 17: Quest for the Best, Part 2]<br/>“And a web of tangled conundrums remain in the traveler’s wake.”<br/>“Rhythm never sleeps. The rooms of the Blue Virus are ever changing. It’s not a virus. It’s where all of the Corridors meet. A place where the Podiums can rest and mess with whatever they want. A place with no rules. Reality is gone, physics are off the walls, and everyone has freedom of will. No consciences holding them back. The perfect crimes can happen. As a result, the Blue Virus is the place most connected with sin. There is no telling what kind of room you’ll enter next. Everyone lives here, even the Juveniles. The Astral Daycare can be found in the Blue Virus, as is everywhere else in a messed-up state. It’s no secret that the Virus is a safe haven for those looking for the ultimate comfort. There’s nothing holding them back, and they come out of there feeling refreshed. It’s like the best place in the world. Yet, it holds all of these sinful confessions that manifest in the form of Sigma Cards dressed up as Delta Cards. They’re life-sized images known as Craftworks. These Craftworks are regularly hung up on the walls of the Metaverse<br/>Corridors. They all link to the Blue Virus. They all hold what others may call “innocent sin”.<br/>Some that come here develop a special resistance to the Craftworks and their influence. I’m one of them, for I’ve gained a new power known as the Hidden Power. It’s a blue vein that runs throughout the body and unlocks a plethora of new abilities. Melee weapons are not needed, and neither are ranged weapons. Delta Cards, however, can still be utilized. That Hidden Power has served me well over the course of my journey through the Blue Virus. A creation of the masses and their multiplicative cognition. Everyone’s minds and hearts joined together to create a location better described with a Salvador Dali painting. Maybe Jackson Pollock created this thing, I don’t know. Whatever the case may be, it’s one of the weirdest places ever crafted. Every room is different. Rhythm never sleeps.”<br/>[March 18: Quest for the Best, Part 3]<br/>“And now the Hidden Power has made me unstoppable. I can summon energy circles at will to do my bidding, my weapons are gone, replaced by this razor wind that works by swinging my arms around, I can manipulate the ground and summon rock/metal pillars that I can move around with my mind... There’s a lot of things I can do now, but it had to come from somewhere...<br/>The Blue Virus has sent two of the Podium Watchers at me to keep me in check, but I think I’m a bit too powerful for even those cognitive projections. I beat one of their members, Black Rose, in his own room inspired by the things he draws. This room’s a projection, too. It’s a huge castle, surrounded by rather explicit things. I could describe it in detail, but I prefer not to. It’s up to you to imagine how these animals reproduced. After all, everyone’s an animal. You decide how you want to think of them. Anyway, after much commotion, I found Aptitude confronting Black Rose, not happy about him and the way he creates his stuff, saying that he should be a lot cleaner than he is. I mean, dude does make wholesome stuff, but I’ve seen his other side, as well. His world’s got a Miracle Couple too. Aptitude and Black Rose fought each other, and I just simply sat there and watched. I’ve known her since January, and while one part of me thought she would live to tell the tale, the other part told me that he was too powerful.<br/>Until she summoned an Echo, Hardened Princess. That Echo was strong enough to disarm him and thoroughly massacre him. It was up to me to deliver the final blow, so I just simply summoned a massive gear and flattened the bird-armored projection. He was gone. Me and Aptitude celebrated our well-earned victory, but I wasn’t near done.<br/>The second one, Red Flower, chased me down a cyberpunk city, with three of his creations giving chase (all wolves, all female). I was then suddenly warped to a place containing Delta, Aptitude, and Aeolian (still using Strata’s color palette instead of the yellow that Aeolian’s associated with), the latter having been torn apart. Everyone backed up as I approached the fallen robot. He said: “How did you lead yourself to this point? What happened to the Juveniles? You told the former<br/>timeline that you loved the creations of the childlike. You loved the environments that they made. You’d play around in them having the most fun you could have. Yet you let one sin control you and now you run around with more psychic powers than Carrie could ever dream of and you’re off killing 5 armored dudes that aren’t even the real ones. You took one of them out and I’m glad – at the Gate of Spirituality even – but you are still lacking in strength in the wholesome side of things. Listen, Seraph... I shouldn’t call you that anymore. You’re far from an angel. Listen, Sora (or Sorah if you want). You’ve been split in half. Find your wicked, sinful side and tell it to scram in the most harmful way possible. Bring back the inner child. Don’t let your powers get in your way.” His words reminded me of something. I literally had two sides of me, one of which was way stronger than the other. I had to use the lack of rules in the Blue Virus to my advantage. Stop the flow of sin in my side of things and restore the Astral Daycare to its place in the universe.<br/>Of course, Red Flower still wanted a piece of me, but I had an extra ally on my side during that battle, and she was really good at silencing lewd folks.”<br/>[March 19: Quest for the Best, Part 4]<br/>“Red Flower wasn’t too bad to me. After all, he was only a projection, and Vita was hopping so mad, she pretty much slaughtered him.<br/>The real meat of this story is the split ends that I had going on. One side of me has split off into its own individual, Horizon. That’s the side that kept the sin flowing within me. He had golden armor that looked as sleek as a phone, a plethora of Theta Cards with him, and only one solution to end his reign. “Take him with you into Millennium!”, Delta told me. I told her that it would be complete suicide to take this man into a place where he can gain extra power. She insisted on it, and so I took this winged beast with me to Millennium, which is a technology-fueled alternate dimension similar to the Blue Virus. Part of the Astral Daycare has been sandwiched into the boundaries of the purple network. There’s tons of Delta Cards here, as well as some Theta Cards. All Horizon wanted, though, was the ticket to the real meat of the equation; the Sigma Cards. He wasn’t getting any from me, because Aptitude and Vita shot a huge laser beam from a cannon behind me. I dodged it and then wondered where they got it from. They told me that anything’s possible in a place with no rules.<br/>That’s when I realized something. I was torn between Millennium and the Blue Virus because I was harvesting power from both. Taking advantage of the lack of rules in the Blue Virus while at the same time knowing full well that the Juveniles make me happy because of their childlike nature reminding me and the Student of our own childhoods. I was with him the whole time. He just didn’t know it yet because it wasn’t time for me to enter his life. But he enjoyed his youth, and I<br/>watched from the great beyond. When it came time, I took his memories and kept them safe. This fight against Horizon is less of a fight and more of an endurance test. Harming Horizon directly wasn’t an option here, so I had to rely on my power of ensuring my half takes aim. I have to contact those children.<br/>When I threw the call out there, double a dozen Juveniles responded to me. They told me that there was a child still left in me as well. Of course, they don’t know the Student exists because of their status as a projection. In fact, I’m pretty much the only person that’s open about my relationship with the Student. Well, me and Quincy, because he used to be one and the same with the Student. But now they’re split. And I keep asking myself: Why does the Student keep guiding him, myself and I to the wrong place knowing full well that these babyish supplements are available? Is it the sudden gut feeling? Is it the imperishable urge to get up and cause mayhem with the mind? Is it a needless sin that erupts within the atmosphere of common people? Something’s keeping that sin alive. Or, rather, someone. Someone beyond our reach. Someone who is controlling the events here in this system. Whoever he may be, he will meet his end, someday. He will be just like Horizon, because with the power of a thousand forces of light, the needless wants shall vanish with the forces of evil. That’s the way the world works. Good triumphs over evil. If this is how the story ends, so be it, because the hero almost never loses.<br/>I’m not backing down from the everlasting war. Rhythm never sleeps.”<br/>[March 20: Quest for the Best, Part 5]<br/>“I was pretty sure Horizon was done for when I came back to the Blue Virus. Not only was he around, but he was dragging me to different areas that he’d found. Even as I opened the Gate of Prayer, it proved to be futile. He still got the upper hand. I became so angry that as I was fighting him in one of the many randomized rooms of the Virus, I opened up another gate that I had found. It was one of the brightest locations to ever be found in such an expansive place like the Virus. As Horizon recoiled from the brightness of the light, I took my hand, grabbed him and slung him into the gate as hard as I could. I was that ticked off. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The light pouring into his sinful body… he couldn’t take it. His body cracked and exploded. The results were not pretty to look at, but the red mist will fade soon.<br/>My next assignment was to cleanse the Inner Mind of its impurities. I took my Echoes Wanda (female skunk known for her massive spell pool and status effects), Gold Flower (female rabbit that serves as the “Spells” counterpart of Rose’s “Swords” and Cleansing Rose (male rabbit, the “Swords” to Flower’s “Spells”; interestingly, neither of them wield weapons. Wanda and Flower use kicks, Rose uses claw swipes.) to the affected areas. I kept them behind me to avoid losing them in battle. Along the way, I saw 5 enemy types: Sin Symbols, Explicit Sin Symbols (both female mannequins without heads or legs, Explicits are red and hurt worse), Proud Zealots (Horizon’s army of armored robots),<br/>Wandering Thoughts (wisps with a deadly sting. Many a wholesome Echo has been lost to these devils) and the mid-boss, a familiar enemy.<br/>The Seductress, this time revived with the title Sorceress.<br/>“But I don’t cast magic. Let’s go with Seductress.”<br/>New look, new clothes, new attacks, same mood. Irredeemably angry. The fight lasted longer than I thought, mainly because she’d go for the Echoes and not me. Since Aeolian is seemingly gone, I can’t summon him anymore. Wanda nearly died during this struggle, but I managed to heal her up while protecting her. Dead Echoes stay dead.<br/>Meanwhile Horizon’s death caused the Proud Zealots up there in the Vast Grasslands to wage war against the Juveniles. Going after children because of a harsh sin… what a waste of good time and energy! So many of those Juveniles are wasting away. I saw rattles, toy blocks and other assorted baby toys on the ground after our fight. We moved up there after Delta told us about a “mysterious surge in power”. I saw thousands of individuals fighting like crazed animals. I killed the Zealots’ leader, but they wanted more. More sin in the Blue Virus than what ran through their veins already. I already decided enough’s enough.<br/>After blasting through the Inner Mind and getting even stronger from it, I figured it’d be time for me to show the Zealots how strong I am.”<br/>[March 21: Quest for the Best, Part 6]<br/>“The entirety of Exodus City’s been merged here in the Blue Virus somehow. I don’t know if it was my experiment that did it or what, but it’s caused a drastic amount of things to happen. The jungle-esque designs have occupied the walls in the safe rooms, and in general the Blue Virus seems to have a mostly black palette, with other colors periodically flowing in.<br/>But the biggest part of my expedition today was my discovery of a bigger, much safer Reactor. I was simply amazed after a few minutes of travelling the Virus, trying to find higher-resolution matches for my Delta and Echo Cards. Needless to say, I left a tracking device there to explore it later. My, my, my my my. There’s a lot to cover there, and could lead to new Delta Cards...!<br/>On the other hand, the war between the Juveniles and the Zealots has ended...somewhat. They’re still fighting, but not nearly as much as before. Sometimes I see one fighting another, and I see it as normal. However, something later on cut me like a knife.<br/>Superbia somehow came back.<br/>Well, he came back in limited fashion. Razor, Delta and Tiffany were sent to destroy his being, and once that was done so, they were stuck on some sort of trash-filled landscape filled with a fluid that was said to be made of sin, making it volatile to all living beings.”<br/>“Uh, hi. This must be the experiment log, no? Either way, I’m adding my own entries here from now on. Me, Tiffany and Delta have determined amongst ourselves that we’re never getting out of this area. I believe that a significant amount of sinful energy radiating from the Inner Mind might have something to do with this. The sheer amount of trash here doesn’t bother our sense of smell, though...”<br/>“There’s a way out of here, but it’s a very narrow entranceway. Someone small enough is going to have to crawl up there and change the landscape in order for us to get out. Our route into the Inner Mind won’t be easy.”<br/>(Both Razor and Tiffany have discovered a way up there, and it requires the help of one of Delta’s Echoes, which is quite literally a mouse (Small Crawler) that is a third of the height of everyone present. Delta summons him, throws him up to the hole near the top of the room, and tracks his location.)<br/>“He’s going to do an excellent job with supervising our rescue.”<br/>(The landscape suddenly changes to a large, white rune circle with complex lines crossing each other over. This is apparently one of the sectors of the Inner Mind.)<br/>“Alright, now where is the rest of the sin?”<br/>“I believe that all traces of it point to one source. He is right here within our--”<br/>(Superbia rushes in and runs Tiffany through with a spear. Critically wounded but still living, she keeps the spear jabbed through her chest and manages to steal the spear from Superbia’s hands. She then teleports to the safe room that Sora is in, needing important medical attention from him and his healing-focused Echoes. Razor and Delta prepare to fight Superbia (with the latter having gained a Corruption Biter AND an Outer Soul, Shimmering Crown. It’s focused on ranged attacks and being positively HUGE (9’4), however the armored demon brandishes two cutlasses and spins wildly with them both. Delta, showing no fear, leaps for Superbia and although she gets cut, she powers through the pain as she grabs Superbia, forcing him to drop his swords, and suplexes him into another part of the Blue Virus outright.)<br/>(Razor) “I just realized something. This, the Blue Virus, is what happens when you merge all of the layers together. The Solution City (what the characters used to call ZT2016) might still be here! I have to go find it!”<br/>(Back to Sora) “I believe Superbia has taken on a new form. Reminiscent of me, he’s white, angelic in appearance wearing the same armor he had in his former days, and yet devilish none the less. This soul tried to confront me, but I refused. That’s why he made Trash Land and sealed the other three there. Is the Soul Canvas here? I wonder where the Several are... Either way, Tiffany’s back to normal condition, and I even had Vita visit the safe room. The neon jungle patterns here are quite interesting, I wonder if the entire Inner Mind is like this...<br/>Oh yeah, my power growth from Horizon’s death is nearly complete. All I need according to Vita is some Delta Cards to strengthen the end result.”<br/>[March 22: Quest for the Best: Part 6]<br/>“The entire Inner Mind resembles a world clouded in darkness, yet giving off a variety of different light shows periodically, whether it be a rushing field of stars, or white lines flowing in at us like wind, or a mystifying display of lines in different colors flying throughout the air like an air show... And some parts just plain look like this.<br/>”<br/>“Anyways, I discovered a world today beyond my wildest dreams. It was some sort of sanctuary-looking place. Pillars of stone holding up a foundation that resembles a church, but actually isn’t. It was the home of a bunch of entities that weren’t nearly as sinful as those from the Blue Virus.”<br/>(Sora’s phone) “Listen up. This is Cool Silver. It’s your place. The result of putting the entirety of Exodus City, including your beloved Refined Sanctuary, in one location all at once. I made sure everything was lined up neatly, but I didn’t actually create this place. Something did, and I’m not sure what it is. Now, you can get all the Delta/Echo Cards you want<br/>from here, and I’m sure they will do you lots of good in battle, but do consider that the Blue Virus is its own thing...”<br/>“Yeah, okay, sure. The Reactor’s here too. All I had to do was make a hard-left turn past the entrance. It even has everything there from the last expedition. Though I was in for a rude awakening when we (Me, Razor, Tiffany and Vita) met a particularly strong Partial named the Shattered Minotaur. I swear we had all lost it when we did take it on, for it nearly killed one of Razor’s Echoes. She was pretty strong for a panda, too. I had discovered a way to kill it quick, and that was for all of us to wield our Corruption Biters and shoot it in synchronization. When the Minotaur dropped dead, Vita traced it and found out what it all means.”<br/>“The Minotaur followed us here from the Virus’ safe room. It was here to act as an assassin for the Virus. The Virus is alive, ticked off that we left so soon and didn’t become a sin zombie (read: A Zealot) and is now coming for us and fast. Sora, you need to do something about this.”<br/>“And I did, having no clue how she found out my name got changed. I went for the Gate of Spirituality, assumed my dolphin form, and located the previously-undisclosed Passageway Barrier, the thing preventing me from properly powering up like I should. I pretty much sped through the entire field, only stopping to destroy some Devil’s Mines. These enemies are basically drain plugs that take the form of Wandering<br/>Thoughts. They’re surrounded by Mini Mines, and if the name didn’t tip you off, they explode after death but give off a whole lot of experience points.<br/>Yes. Experience points. Roll with it.<br/>I sped right and ignored all of the Devil’s Mines after Delta-as-a-dolphin told me to. She told me there was a way to delete those mines, so I continued to go right. Problem was, the Mines knew where I was going, so they followed us. Having no fear, Delta swam to the top and did a spin jump above water that summoned an unrealistic black hole that sucked in all the mines and revealed the true source behind all of the Mines and the Barrier:<br/>A bunch of Machines that block the passage to the heart of the Spirituality Door. I had only a rapid-fire beam cannon mounted on my head. They had loads of weaponry to fire at me. Regardless, I powered through them all, even with a little surprise at the end involving a REALLY powerful capsule Machine, and spin-jumped at the top, resetting the Door.<br/>And what do you know, it’s a chapel. Stained glass windows, huge bell at the top, ages-old paintings by artists that people struggle to pronounce to this day, that kind of chapel. Except the old benches aren’t here anymore, this time we got those modern chairs being used to sit in now. And what do you know, the TV at the front of the room looks identical to a movie theater set...<br/>I’m not a dolphin anymore.”<br/>[March 23: Celestial War, Part 1]<br/>“And before we knew it, we were running down the hallway of a HUGE tower that was Cool Silver. Dozens of Partials were chasing us, and Delta taught me something very cool. It was the power of Runes, those energy circles that can either protect, harm, or strengthen. You move your hands or fingers in very specific formations, and they appear right before you. You can mix them up, angle them in specific ways, and even make them a different type. I was instructed to test one out on three Shattered Partials (WAY stronger than what we fought before, in the past few months), and as I blocked the Partial’s projectile, I fired one back that blew it up and killed the other two.<br/>This all happened a few hours after I discovered Cool Silver and the completed Door of Spirituality.<br/>The new Corruption Biters here really hit the spot. They’re metallic little guns with an LED inside of their plastic ovular covers (they lack proper barrels, a gun doesn’t need a barrel to be a gun, now does it?) that make them look like toys, but believe me, when that LED lights up,<br/>anything in front of them is going to perish. That ray of energy may be invisible, but you’ll know when it hits you.<br/>Anyways, I was delighted when that blue vein running down my hand that I thought had vanished now extended to cover my torso. It was starting to take hold. That other half Aeolian told me about? It’s here. I’ve finally managed to accomplish what I’ve only emulated before in the Blue Virus...”<br/>(Accurate proportions tracked and granted. Equip armor “Sparkling Mercy” on subject. Lock tightly and secure. Golden plate armor with room for eyes on the helmet. Adjusted for durability and comfort, the armor comes with two beam swords and adaptability for all sorts of card decks. Use at discretion.)<br/>“It has alighted. Now, where do I start from here?”<br/>(Sora then marvels at his armor before assembling his Delta Cards around him and then channeling a wave of energy around him. At least the armor doesn’t break.)<br/>[March 24: Celestial War, Part 2]<br/>(Razor) “I discovered quite a surprise today. Cool Silver, the Reactor, Solution City and the entire Gate of Prayer were fused together under one amalgam. It was a powerful creature known as a Celestial Body. A gigantic structure that lives, breathes and fights for its people. This one is named Celestial Grace. Notably, Solution City was completely empty when I showed up. I looked around, checked the alleys, nothing. It was as empty as a cookie jar in the hands of a hungry child. Then the world started to turn inward. I had to struggle to get out of the City before it folded in on itself, turned into a sphere of metal, and became one of Grace’s cores. The entire Body was like a guardian angel, protecting those it holds dear.”<br/>(Sora) “I looked outside the room I was in when I got my armor, and I saw dozens of knights in armor similar to mine flying out there... and then I looked back and saw that my entire Delta and Theta Card collection vanished. My Epsilon Cards are still here, and I suddenly have many, apparently due to my armor’s powers over the Juvenile Heart, something that not many entities possess nowadays. It’s a force that makes one feel like a child at heart, gives you control over Epsilon Cards and allows you to wield the Gifts of Babies, which are basically the weapons owned by these mighty warriors, these Juveniles, that fought the foes that we’ve encountered over their years. Their world had gone through hardship long before Luminary came along... in fact, I don’t even think we’re in Luminary anymore. We’re spanning a planetary trip, aren’t we?<br/>Oh yeah, I got twin Beam swords that I can wield like single-blade claws on both hands. Cool, right? Anyway, those knights... They seem to be at Grace’s beck and call, and apparently Delta’s their leader. Knights of Delta. They run on Delta Cards and Delta’s their leader. Makes sense, right? Anyway, the world’s ending, so I gotta make it back to the Inner Mind, our new home. After all, Luminary’s almost empty given that it transformed itself into Grace overnight...”<br/>[March 25: Celestial War, Part 3]<br/>“The Inner Mind has only one location open and it’s a section of Solution City. The Knights of Delta were also stationed here to protect the city from any threats. I asked Delta why Solution City is here in the Inner Mind instead of out there being one of Grace’s power cores.”<br/>(Delta) “The Inner Mind is projecting the City from its database of locations. This is not the real Solution City; it just looks highly convincing. Anyways, I’m the leader of the Knights of Delta, if you couldn’t notice from my shiny green royal armor and golden rapier. I command those of the Delta and Theta Cards. I can also summon a new breed of card unlike any other. Infused with unbelievable power, this deck of cards I have here are called Ultimax Cards, and they are SUPER rare to find. Once you know how to control these, it’ll be like the sun in your hand, ready to unleash at any point in time. I want you to have<br/>three of these. They might serve you well. The Knights and I are actually servants of Celestial Grace. Thus, I don’t actually own this army. I just lead them to their next destination.”<br/>(Sora) “So you too are a Delta Knight?”<br/>(Delta) “Precisely. We’re all united by the force of Delta that Grace herself holds dear. Thus, if any of her Knights get attacked or slain (they all behave like Echoes, once they die, they’re gone), her fury becomes more and her rage gets stronger. That’s why I make sure they stay in formation. Like this.”<br/>(Delta conjures a rune circle with a triangle on it. They line up in a triangle formation. With each shape that she makes, like a line, a circle, a zigzag line, a square or a phalanx (rectangle), the soldiers line up like so. They can do so in midair or on the ground.)<br/>(Sora) “So what can I do in this war?”<br/>(Delta) “Just attack the part of the Blue Virus that is most vulnerable. You’ll need all the strength you can get.”<br/>(Razor) “So are these medieval cops supposed to just hover there until some unsuspecting Partial sneaks into the Inner Mind and gets mortally wounded from all those Knights jumping it at once?”<br/>(Delta) “As it may be.”<br/>(An Otter Partial does just so, and just one of the Knights rushes towards it and stabs it, destroying it in one blow.)<br/>(Sora) “We have enough cavalry to keep us busy for a few days, I guess.”<br/>[March 26: Celestial War, Part 4]<br/>Delta and Sora are inside one of Solution City’s areas, a small resturant.<br/>(Delta) “Let me tell you something about these cards that I haven’t told you about at all. Each wielder has 3 decks. One Ultimax can be put in each deck, but the other 7 can be of any other cards. Or you can make every card something other than an Ultimax. Up to 8 cards can be put in a deck, for a grand total of 24 cards per person. This ensures that you don’t have to pick and choose which cards you want to use from your entire collection, just from what you have chosen. Makes for efficient combat, huh? Especially when you don’t even have to physically attack your enemy with your cards. Each card has their own power, too. All you have to do is put two fingers through the card and the power will activate. From making you stronger to making them weaker, these cards can surprise you at any moment.”<br/>Just then, a cloudy mist surrounds Sora. Delta can see it too, and she doesn’t even know what’s going on. Sora’s eyes are a milky white, and he doesn’t seem to be moving. He’s having a vision of a thing he never did, an event that he never experienced or has happened yet. Delta looks on.<br/>(A Sora with some advanced-looking metal armor, a sharp, metal sword capable of cutting through a great amount of substances weaker than itself, and a tenacity to keep fighting through the war presents himself to some Partials in a dystopian beach resort, near the seaside. His group, Team Impartial, consists of Razor, Delta, Vita and 3 of the Knights equipped with similar-looking armor. The Partials are known as Big Cats, and seem to just be anthropomorphic cats built like brick walls. They seem to only be interested in what this passage calls “explicit things”, and they are unnervingly strong. As Team Impartial fights the Big Cats and get crushed under their weight, Sora, this time far away from them somehow, finds a way. He dashes towards the spot where the Partials are fighting, and gets blindsided by another Big Cat. Sora blocks some hits from the Cat upon getting up, but his sword arm just gets cut off by the Cat’s massive sword. Sora just flips behind the Cat, magnetically retrieves his sword, and cuts the Big Cat in half, leaving behind a black, gory mess. The Cat was a product of a new villainous force known as the Black Stigma. Sora (neither of them) doesn’t even know where the Stigma comes from or why it exists, but is just as determined to stop them. Not even caring for his other arm because of his determination in battle, Left-armless Sora rushes towards the enemy Partials and their drop ship, glowing with purple energy. One step later, and his top speed manages to give him the<br/>ability to step forward a few seconds in time, and with this ability to step behind the sands of time, Sora chops up the Partials, their ship, and saves Team Impartial from devastation due to the Black Stigma.)<br/>(Sora, real world) “This is very worrisome. What if this actually happens?!”<br/>Delta is too afraid to speak, for she thinks this might happen, yet isn’t too sure. However, she is indeed worried for the safety of the Knights, for such an attack like that as she saw might cost the entire team.<br/>(Delta) “Team Impartial, was it? We will have to gear up for real in case of something like this happening to us. For now, let’s keep our eyes focused on the Blue Virus.”<br/>[March 27: Celestial War, Part 5]<br/>But nope, that was not the case. Sora was in a bed, tossing and turning to the whims of the Heart’s Desire, a massive, dark location that subjects itself to the whims of the Inner Heart. A symbol of sin that flares up every morning. Sora was confused about the nature of this place as some holes opened up there and showed Sora his own past activities. One of them was Sora walking inside of some kind of club-like location, eager to share his Missionary Discs with the inhabitants inside,<br/>of which there were many. Another showed him in his studio, crafting more Missionary Discs using some robot manufacturers. Yet another showed him something more horrifying. Some entities, including all kinds of animal Partials, were mutating into a big blob of solid, gelatinous substance that was a combination of white, red, and yellow. This kind of scenario was completely unknown to Sora, and no doubt he was unnerved by it. “How could something so sincere turn out to be so horrifying?”, he questioned. Just then, an individual, a Cocker Spaniel wearing armor wit ha determined look on his face appeared from virtually nowhere and cut down some of the Sin Partials within the Heart’s Desire. “I’m gonna get you out of here.”, he says.<br/>“Can I get a name?”<br/>“I’m also Sora. I’m you from another universe. Nearly all of us are gone, and it’s because of this Black Stigma. I’ll help you from here on out.”<br/>The two ventured the place, cutting down enemies, sliding on rails and jumping on floating platforms. They seem to be having fun doing so. Ultimately, however, they come to a stopping point. The other Sora attempts to communicate with the real world, which causes Razor, trying to wake Sora up, to panic. Then again, a giant red rune circle just showed up in Sora’s room. “Do you hear me? We are in a crisis. The Black Stigma... it’s coming towards your place.”, Sora #2 said in a heavily distorted voice.<br/>(Razor) “How do you know this?”<br/>(Sora #2) “Well, I got wind that your buddy down there destroyed one of the Black Stigma’s underlings, a Big Cat Partial.”<br/>(real world Sora) “....It’s true...”<br/>(Sora #2) “I’m gonna need your ally’s assistance here...”<br/>Sora #2 warps real world Sora to a different place altogether different.<br/>“Sora, you’re gonna need to be proficient in wielding this. You don’t have your armor, so you need this. Trust me.” The sword in question is a weapon that is shaped like a boomerang, but only in design. In reality, while one can throw it, it’ll rarely come back to the user. It only looks like a throwing weapon, but in fact, the handle is inside one of the rings! “If you want to defend yourself out here, you’ll need to use that.”<br/>The other Sora was indeed lacking his armor, so no dual Beam sword claws to keep him company. In the next room over, the Sin Partials were stacking up like crazy and there were 9 Big Cat Partials to slay, so Sora #1 had only one option. Instead of using brute force with his paltry sword, he went up to the first Partial he saw, and dodged its attack by flipping, jumping off the wall, and decapacitating it. He ran circles around the next three and blew them up at sonic speed – again, using only skill and finesse. The Big Cat Partials were no slouch in combat,<br/>and they could only be defeated by destroying their bodies somehow, so Sora knew exactly what to do here. He threw his sword, cutting one in half, then he used extensive amounts of hand-to-hand combat to disable the other three. He caught his sword, flipped over the fourth one, cut him in half, then Sora #2 noticed his combat abilities and casted lightning on the three that Sora #1 stunned, which blew them up. He then made quick work of the next four Big Cats using his (temporary) armor’s claws.<br/>(Sora #2)“I want to tell you something. The Black Stigma is a quite unbearable sight. They’re an organization focused on corrupting the worlds as you know them, reshaping them on a whim. Those individuals you kept seeing in your visions, the ones with the super powerful weapons, those that kept influencing your cognition as to who they really are? They’re them. They’re not as powerful as you may think. But they do pose a threat if you think of them as powerful. I want you to remember this. They’re not your friends.”<br/>(Sora #1) “I thought they were a group focused on trying to conspire against us and bring ruin to us through the power of words... I have connections.”<br/>(Sora #2) “With what?”<br/>(Sora #1) “A social portal called the Void. It’s a place where my ideas can be shared through the power of Missionary Discs. They seem to really dig explicit things, and I don’t understand why.”<br/>(Sora #2) “This will be something I will have to think over. This “Void” thing is starting to tick me off. Are they trying to influence the way you think?”<br/>(Sora #1) “It can seem that way sometimes--”<br/>(Sora #2) “Wait, stop! I know exactly what the plan is here. Let me see that weapon.”<br/>Sora #1 hands over his sword to Sora #2 and he folds it into a Missionary Disc and flings it into the Void.<br/>(Sora #1) “What in mercy’s name did you do?!” (Sora #2) “Teaching you about the concept of rebellion. If you don’t like what someone else is doing, speak up and stand for yourself. It doesn’t matter what they say. I’m not digging this “Void” thing.<br/>(Sora #1) “I’ve been attached to that place for who knows how long!”<br/>(Sora #2) “Be prepared to start losing some friends, because the bonds you’ve made over there are quite paltry. You’ve scored interests in exactly how many people over there?”<br/>(Sora #1) “I--” (Sora #2) “And besides, you have a much better place to inhabit now – Solution City. Imagine not having such a place to stay. Imagine staying at THIS hellhole!”<br/>He opens up a portal and reveals the world of the Void. The ground is entirely white, the Sin Partials there (and the few actual entities) are writhing on the ground in simultaneous enjoyment and pain, there are empty vials with familiar logos all over the place, and some entities are doing things that we can’t exactly describe here. Sora #1 was positively horrified.<br/>(Sora #2) “Your cognition was masking you from this, but it couldn’t hold on much longer. That’s why every time you stepped foot in here (that part we didn’t disclose) your perception of this world was blinking. As if the metaphysical shield protecting you from its true form was wearing off. Welcome to what you were REALLY seeing!”<br/>Then, the blob of flesh from earlier appears to Sora again, revealing it to be the heart and soul of a sex-obsessed world.<br/>(Void) “Thou hast violated the law of this establishment! Such rebellion will not be tolerated. I know you can do better than this, so I’ve given you several chances in the past. But this time we’ve decided--”<br/>(Sora #2) “Shut up.” (He closes the door to the Void.)<br/>“You’re safe here with me now, Sora.”<br/>(Sora #1) “Thank you for helping me see the truth. I thought I had a place there but as it turns out I was too good for that sinful world.”<br/>“What’d you tell me your name was?”<br/>(Sora #2) “My name is Sunderance. I work for the Hell Blazers, an organization focused on purity and wholesomeness. The Sin Partials that you once fought are my nemeses. I’ve been working tooth and nail to keep those guys away from my treasured universe. It’s a good thing you didn’t have to fight me. Otherwise I would have torn you to shreds.”<br/>(Sora) “How exactly strong are you?” (Sunderance) “You don’t get it? I’m a war hero from long ago. My name means “the act of separation”. I kinda live to keep this plague away from your worlds. I’ve only heard of your world a few hours ago,<br/>though. I swear, what we’re going through now is not going to end, is it?”<br/>Oy, Sunderance packs quite a bit for a war hero that’s been fighting the Partials ever since before Luminary was even formed. He wears Sora’s armor from when he took on the mantle as Sunderance, except more refined and updated. Breakthrough is now one of the universe’s strongest weapons – It can manipulate time, fire sword beams, summon doppelgangers, be plunged into the ground to summon spikes – and that’s not even the whole package! Seriously, Sunderance is a force to be reckoned with.<br/>(Sunderance) “I have one last warning for you before I come with you. If you’re ever suspicious of any group that you’re in, speak up and demolish the cognitive curtains surrounding you, even if the thing you love has to be taken from you. This is important.”<br/>Sunderance then takes Sora to an armor room, that is, Sunderance’s room. It has Sora’s golden armor sitting there, this time with two bigger slots replacing the Beam sword ignition switch. “There. I upgraded your armor so that instead of using those unwieldy claws, you can instead use your blades like actual swords. Consider yourself thankful.”<br/>[March 28: Celestial War, Part 6]<br/>The first thing Sora does upon returning to the Inner Mind is to access Millennium and cut down some Theta Cards that were linked to the Void. This results in some Knights of Delta attempting to conspire against the unit dying before Sora’s hand. As in, the Knights were behind him, attempting to kill Sora. Eventually their armor vanished somehow. “That’s not weird at all.”, he confusingly said as he put away his swords. “Did you.... Oh.”, Delta came in the room saying. They were both in the Inner Mind’s version of the Refined Sanctuary.<br/>Much later on, Sora took a trip to a sector of the Inner Mind that he thought looked suspicious. The entire room was a grey labyrinth filled with blood on the walls and Sin Partials roaming around everywhere. Sora will have to spill more of it as his Beam swords cut through two of them trying to take him from both of his sides. He is quite proficient at dual-sword wielding, as he read a book on how it’s done. Graceful spins and swipes, it’s like dancing, but more deadly. Navigating the labyrinth wasn’t that big of a deal, especially when Aptitude was waiting behind one of the walls, trying not to get his attention. It all came to a head after the two locked eyes from behind different walls. “What’re you doing here?”, Sora asked her. “These Partials... they’re drawn just like you a--”<br/>(Aptitiude) “Drawn?”<br/>(Sora) “If you were summoned here, someone had to draw you. The Soul Canvas is home to many of those kinds of individuals. You probably escaped from your creator and made yourself independent. You know your creator is still looking for you, right?”<br/>(Aptitiude) “Yes, Podium Master Blue Tulip. That’s why I’m running away from him.”<br/>Sora couldn’t even believe that a Podium Master created her and those Partials from way back when Luminary was split into layers. She was quite friendly, but those Sin Partials weren’t. In fact, going by her wounds, she didn’t even bleed.<br/>(Sora) “You’re not bleeding.”<br/>(Aptitude) “Good aligned entities don’t bleed. That blood you see around you? That’s all Partial matter--”<br/>She navigates behind a wall and whacks a Partial with her staff. The two frantically parry each other’s hits until Aptitude casts a rune circle and blasts the Partial in the spot where it hurts most. The Partial bleeds profusely from the area where it was hit, and another one that looks identical to Aptitude comes up with a gun and attempts to fire upon Sora and Aptitude, but he fires back with his Biter and cripples the Partial by firing where it hurts the most.<br/>Then Sunderance shows up and surprises them both. “A Podium Guardian lives here!” Aptitude and Sora give him a “not amused” look. “We know this already, so why even--”<br/>All three are warped to a battle arena in the sky hovering above Solution City. They’re greeted by Blue Tulip, otherwise known as--<br/>(Tulip, who carries an Australian accent) “My name is 3SAI, and you are all sinners. For even stepping forth to my labyrinth, you’ve committed the cardinal sin of looking upon displays of--”<br/>(Sora) “That you’ve created. I was simply looking for something safe of yours to acquire, but alas, it was nothing but nudity from top to bottom (everyone’s an animal, even the entities inside images!). We’re both in the wrong here, but some people are more wrong than others.”<br/>3SAI possesses blue armor befitting of a Podium Guardian. His sword--<br/>(3SAI removes his armor and reveals far more than what he initially kept on him. That includes wings with rockets on them, a whip, way better armor than what he had on before, and most importantly, hundreds of Sigma Cards.)<br/>(3SAI) “Why do they give us all the exact same armor but recolored? I want to use my true power, for crying out loud--”<br/>Sunderance takes this opportunity to tackle him off the platform, yet 3SAI flies back up and rams him into the wall behind everyone. Aptitude and Sora back up, and the former attempts to cast another circle, but Sora stops her. He then contacts the Gate of Prayer, still as vibrant as ever. He then gives himself a miraculous upgrade, even bigger than the boost in strength Sunderance gave him earlier on. Acquiring all of 3SAI’s equipment in Spiritual form, he throws 3SAI off of the platform and starts air jousting with him, both flying over Solution City. The fight comes to a head after some back and forth parrying when Sora disarms 3SAI and cuts him in half with his two Beam swords. “Business as usual.”, he says afterward.<br/>(Sora) “Why exactly did you mark this location? This leads exactly to the Blue Virus!”<br/>(Sunderance) “.... There’s something I want to show you.”<br/>(Sora) “What is it?”<br/>Sunderance opens up a rune circle revealing the deepest part of the Inner Mind, showing off its secret passion for nudity and sinfulness.<br/>(Sora) “That’s what’s causing the tension here?”<br/>(Sunderance) “We must destroy that room.”<br/>Sora, after some time, eventually takes a detour using the Door of Spirituality. (It’s also a method of fast travel, if you can get past the enemies.) The first thing he sees as a dolphin is in fact some Mobile Sea Mines. They rush towards him speedily, forcing Sora to perform some loop-de-loops around the sea of the air. After evading the Mines, he speeds downwards into the pit that contaminates the Gate of Prayer. “I didn’t know such a detour was this clogged...”, he says to himself. HE takes on his regular form after exiting the Vast Sea. The area is positively hellish, filled with pulsating orange veins that power the lifeblood of the Sin Structure, which is pretty much the Gate of Prayer’s version of Hell. Inside of the next room over from the annoying hard-to-jump-on platforms was a boss arena containing the barely-covered Sin Synthesis, a flying Rabbit Partial with the ability to fire energy cards and cast lightning. A force to be reckoned with in a 2D environment.<br/>[March 29: The Final Hours, Part 1]<br/>After her defeat, Sora went in the next room and found his next detour spot, a purple void room that contains copies of some inhabitants of the void. Sora’s memories of the Void then came back up, warping him to a room inside his inner being, where three beings representing him staying close to the past, the Triple Samurai--<br/>(Sora) “Nah, I’ll call it a day from here. Sleeping dogs lie.”<br/>He then summoned his new Outer Soul, a flying six-armed (none of which are connected to his body, they just float around) angelic entity named Proxima Centauri, who is so powerful (single-shot energy beams that can clear out an entire squad of SWAT Team members and then some) that he not only one-shotted the Samurai, but when Sora got into the next room and met the fluffiest little white ninja in history, he put Centauri away and challenged the ninja, Taboo, to a fair fight.<br/>Taboo (Male, Fox), possessing white fur and orange eyes, was the owner of the area contained in the Void, and as such his MO is nothing but something I can’t bring up here. He wields two swords and does a lot of flipping and kicking around. He was quite difficult to hit, throwing Sora around like a ragdoll and royally thrashing him whenever he tried to attack at first, and he launched a ton of attacks from the two Delta Rings he wears, including giant energy rings, fire, ice shards, ground spikes, energy waves and even gigantic energy fields. Even Sora was appalled by how strong he was. Nevertheless, a pair of Delta Rings was nothing compared to the might of an experienced swordfighter armed with two beam swords. Within moments after 15 minutes of fighting Taboo was done for when Sora cut him up badly, chopped his arms off,<br/>then kicked his upper half into the distance. Beam swords do cauterize wounds, you know.<br/>The beam swords were energy blades attached to old-timey sword hilts that acted just like the swords you see in sci-fi movies. They cauterize wounds allowing for clean slices every time. They are meant to be wielded gracefully, being a weapon of advanced military discipline. They are placed in Sora’s armor’s attachments in the arms when not in use. The user simply holds them out in front of them and the swords will automatically retract, the blade disappearing. Despite the instructions implying the blades are attached to the arms, they are in fact held in hand. The blades are predominantly white, although after defeating Taboo, the blades were turned into a vibrant blue by Proxima Centauri.<br/>“That was a ton of time and effort. Maybe I did do the right thing being forced out such a crazed neighborhood.”, he said to Centauri.<br/>[March 30: The Final Hours, Part 2]<br/>Sora then walked the path towards the door far out in Taboo’s arena. Inside was a massive dimension whose background was a movement of<br/>purple and black dots rising upward. It was like a dream, except this was the Visionary Spire, a place where imagination runs wild and anything goes. It was very hard to resist temptation here, and Sora could feel that. To the point where he absolutely required Centauri wherever he went. He searched every corner of the Spire, taking up Delta Cards (the last and newest he could acquire this month) left and right. Centauri would stop him every time he tried to take a turn that would be deemed hazardous to his health. As a result, Sora became stronger, having the ability to fight one of the greatest sins known to all metaphysical – and non-metaphysical – entities. Just then, Sora receives a message from his phone that was very garbled and distorted. Sora couldn’t analyze it correctly, but he did find some coordinates to somewhere below the Visionary Spire. He tried to march there, but when he got to the top of a massive skyscraper, the area revealed itself. Just then, a clone of him named Debauchery leaped at him and tried to attack, but Sora stepped out of the way and leaned backwards in front of a platform leaning out into the distance, onto the streets of a city block. Debauchery tried to attack Sora again, but Sora flipped over and ran underneath the platform. Then he engaged Debauchery in hand-to-hand combat upside down on the platform. The two fought at it for a while until Debauchery was knocked from the upside-down platform onto another platform. Sora followed him there and attempted to keep him at a safe distance using Centauri. Every projectile from Proxima Debauchery dodged, and the doppelganger was then caught off guard by Sora’s beam sword. Debauchery just pulled out his own and shifted the terrain to reveal the Spire’s true form. The two matched each other in combat perfectly – Debauchery possessed Sora’s smarts, combat ability and even appearance. The only difference is that Debauchery was the color of the dots in the background. The two clashed at each other with their swords, and as Debauchery reached his hand out,<br/>attempting to use his Delta Ring to goad Sora into the wrong path, Centauri shows up and reminds Sora of what it means to resist temptation. “If you fall into his guise, then you’ll become just like the Partials...”<br/>Sora had a backup plan, though. He faked getting tempted by Debauchery, and as the clone flashed a smile, Sora flashed one back as he teleported to a different location entirely and jumped off the platform leading into the bottom of the Visionary Spire. Debauchery, impressed at having been outwitted, could only stare in silence with a smile.<br/>Sora then found himself at the Sinner’s Dungeon, basically a prison. He found Quincy of all people quivering inside of his cell and cut the bars open. Quincy was rather impressed at having been rescued, as his Delta Rings (4 of them) could’ve done the work for him, but he chose to stay because of his Link with the Student (who is currently stuck inside of his establishment). “Thanks for the help anyway. You know, you’re linked to The Student too. He can see everything you’re seeing. I think you’d oughta be proud of yourself having come all the way down here without assist—Oh.”, he said just before noticing Proxima Centauri behind Sora. “Didn’t know you had a friend. Either way, get back to Solution City. There is something MAJOR going on there.”<br/>(Sora) “Will you come with us?”<br/>(Quincy) “I’ll try my best.”<br/>When Sora DID make it back to Solution City (from the Inner Mind), it was SWARMED with Partials, from dolphins to horses to sheep, goats and wolves, the entire place was practically a raid. Sora took out his beam sword and cut his way through the swarm flying around in front of him. He was then told by Centauri to hide in a room somewhere. Razor, Tiffany, Shay-501, Delta, Vita and co., Markus and even Silver was fighting this thing. Silver had taken a break from his usual studies to investigate the cause of the unusual breach in activity, which was directly related to what he was researching. “The activity of the isolated room that the Student is held in as a result of the disaster outside of his home field is now taking its effects here in the Inner Mind...”<br/>Sure enough, when Sora finds a building and shuts the door and locks it, Centauri then reminds him of something. “The rabbit in the prison cell said that you have a link with this entity named “The Student”, is that right? If so, maybe you can contact him and see what’s up.”, he says. Before that can go any further, Sora suddenly sees a panel of Clarence’s comic before his eyes. The walls and everything was too dark to see, so this was definitely visionary. However, his visions got darker and weirder. He heard a voice saying “Be sure to take this moment to heart. Do not let it wander.” as another image flared up and depicted the aftermath of a fox’s Boy Scout training. It was quite a depressing sight, but so was the appearance of a mass of fleshy, pulsating materials around Sora. It was Taboo’s final attack on him to avoid letting go of him. The past was reaching out to Sora, but he rejected it with a beam sword to the everything. He unlocked the door, went out and found himself in a twisted version of Solution City.<br/>[March 31: The Absolute Final Hours]<br/>Delta reported that the Blue Virus had merged itself with “some outer force [the Visionary Spire] and was starting to mutate elsewhere. Only Sora could change the circumstances presented here. Only Sora can literally split two worlds away from each other. Celestial Body Juno was hard at work here trying to engulf everything with a boost of power.<br/>Meanwhile, Sora was in a version of Solution City where literally half the city was inaccessible. Centauri told him that the top of the highest building in Solution City was the key to making it out of there. Sora marched behind the place in the coldest environment imaginable and leapt up the skyscrapers one by one. Eventually he came to a stopping point in some warped, monochromatic area. Centauri warned Sora that someone quite familiar was lurking here. Sure enough, there were rails leading to the next section. All of a sudden, a Maine Coon jumped from above the ceiling. “Greetings and sorry for the trouble. A pair of mammals united themselves here on this platform, and--”, he was about to say before Sora drew a sword and asked “Do you have any connection to a prior foe of ours?” quite angrily. “What does this guy look like?”, Centauri asked. “Well, Clarence wears a cape, and he kinda looks like a butler. A butler wearing armor underneath his longcoat.”, Sora replied. “You know, I was just about to get to that. He’s dead. I’m the last living remnant of him and I totally have no connection to him at<br/>all from that point forward...”, he nervously explained. “...Oh.”, Sora replied before they both looked ahead and saw a phantom that looked exactly like Clarence. They both looked at each other and then slid on the rails, firing at Clarence’s clones with their guns. Justin, as the new guy is called, wields a unique type of shotgun – when you pump it and think of an object or person, the shotgun’s shots only affect that object or person. It’s called the Distance Shotgun. When the two landed on the next platform, Sora went to challenge Clarence alone. He wanted to get the job done so quickly that he gave the phantom no chance to react, which is why their battle turned out to be fast and brutal. Sora had no idea what to see coming when Clarence shot half his face off with a Sigma Card. Sora was a little shocked at this, but eventually it recovered due to entities like him recovering faster than most others. Metaphysical entities have different ranks they go under, and Sora’s at the top of his class. Eventually, in the monochromatic void that the two fought in, Clarence’s Influence summoned a large cannon at the bottom of a gigantic pit, and jumped in it. Sora followed suit, and as the cannon exploded, he jumped out, landed and said “That’s done!”<br/>“You know how Delta, Theta, Epsilon and Sigma cards are used by sticking your fingers inside of them? Well, I think we just reached the surface.”<br/>Sora said these words to Centauri following their arrival at the surface. A location worth flying in. It was positively majestic, being a different view of space than usual. THe background is unpredictable, boasting 14,389,120,990 different possible frame changes, and possibly more<br/>than that due to combinations. Truly, the universe is a marvelous place. Grace and Juno were fighting each other, trying to hold one back from the other, so Sora went over to resolve the problem. Turns out, everyone’s fighting this (even Aptitude and three of the Several) and it’s due to the Podium’s boss, a fearsome leader named Ganymede.<br/>Sora took this one to his fortress, located in the heart and center of the Blue Virus – well, the part that broke off and tried to fuse with the Inner Mind anyway – and navigated his way through the area. The walls and floor were blue and quite fleshy, you can hear squishing sounds while walking on the terrain. It smells bad, too. There were no safe images to make Delta Cards out of, so the objective was to keep moving and destroy any Cardinal Sin Partials that were moving here and there (they were all goats) with the beam swords. Eventually, he came to a point where it was dark, and 6 pairs of eyes were staring at Sora at once. Centauri came out and said “I don’t think this means anything good. Might wanna back away--”, before Sora shoved him aside. “Got anything to say to us?”, one of the individuals in the background said. “I don’t think I want to come back to your ‘pleasant’ little abode you call the Void. If a wall of sexual themes is going to show up in my face everytime I open the door, then I had a good reason to be kicked out. You didn’t understand me.”, Sora explained. “We had plenty of wholesome things to offer, but you chose to look at our glaring sin and count the number of times we messed up. Now how’s that for a good day?”<br/>That individual is Lightning, a super-fast hyena and one of the 6 Steel Silencers. The other 5 are Cradle, a wolf who knows how to sneak around (he’s just a black outline after all), The Judge, another wolf with a slightly bad temper who is the one that got Sora thrown out in the first place, Temperance, a mouse with too many projectiles to count and a knack for bright colors, Azaroth, yet another wolf (see a pattern here?) who also got thrown out of the Void because of HIS bad temper, and Prairie, a fox who throws a lot of green around and shows up wherever another shows their face. He gets around plenty.<br/>“Let’s show the traitor what happens to those who rebel.”, Lightning said as he revealed this place to be a massive colosseum. However, all it takes for Sora to win this are him and his beam sword, along with tons of wits. He didn’t quite think his way through, though, because Lightning was faster than he thought. WAY faster. So much faster that Sora couldn’t even see him hitting him multiple times with lightning charged attacks. Then Sunderance showed up wearing his armor and his sword, Breakthrough. “Thank you for stealing my look earlier, I was afraid I might’ve never had come back.”, he said regarding that one moment in time. He slowed down time (one of many things that the sword can do) and caught up with Lightning’s blazing fast speed. While dueling him in the space of time, Sora grabbed Prairie and threw him into a wall, instantly cracking his head open. The Judge kept him busy for quite a while, but decapacitation stopped him in his tracks. No matter how many hits he can land with that staff, Sora can just cut it open and cut him down. After all, you don’t need to be the man to beat the man. Distraught at having lost 2 of their number, Cradle hid in the shadows, eagerly waiting for his chance to strike. Sora saw this coming and gave Centauri the word. Centauri outfitted Sora with the kind of vision that allows one to see ultraviolet light, and thus Sora was able to<br/>find him and kick him over to the place where Sunderance and Lightning are having a one-sided-on-Sunderance's-side duel. He ended up getting shredded alongside Lightning. Temperance took this all in stride and managed to give Sora an actual challenge. Her methods of moving around, including teleportation, gave Sora a hard time hitting her. She fired so many different-colored projectiles at Sora (every color in the wheel plus more) that moving around felt like walking in a paintball arena. Sunderance took notice, however, and commanded his many doppelgangers to take flight and rush at her. Temperance cut them all down with one swing and fired a colored laser at Sunderance. He just flew out of the way and grabbed her with a multicolored chain, flinging her halfway across the arena. Sora took this chance to team up with Centauri and Sunderance to tear her apart, as she was on the ground, unable to move.<br/>“Whatever this steel empire wanted from me, it’s not getting it.”, Sora responded. “The coliseum’s door just opened, I think that’s the way to Ganymede’s place!”, Centauri reported.<br/>But there was one more confusing labyrinth to go. Twists and turns, one enemy after another, it just never stops surprising our heroes. Halfway through the maze of white liquids and red solids, Aptitude showed up, taking a break from her side of the battle. She converted a wall into the gateway to the very last door. “It takes like 30 minutes to get to the end point on your own. We need to end this ASAP, and who’s going to do it but the Everlasting himself?”, Aptitude said. “Everlasting? Does that mean I’m someone special?”, Sora replied. “You’ll find out.”, she said.<br/>Ganymede, a steel titan standing tall at 6’7, ruling over the Blue Virus with an iron fist. The Podiums are doing battle with our heroes on the other side. Sora and co. just came in to discuss business with the man. “There is nothing you need to say to me, fellow rivals. I would be the one to control Juno, but what can I say? I’m one of only a handful of sinful tin titans out there. You won’t be able to see – or fight – them all, but take your honor as the first one able to put up a good one with me. The Inner Mind rests in your hands.”, he says this once as he never uses the sword on the back of his sleek, diamond-like armor, preferring his electric spheres, multicolored arrows, Sigma Cards, electric boomerangs and melee attacks. He is rather fast for someone his size; he can take down a hippo barehanded and then some, and so he has the power to knock back Sora a distance so far that he flies out into the universe, at an angle where he can easily stare down Juno.<br/>“Sora! You will need to take down Juno before doing anything closely related to Ganymede! He’s way too powerful for us to defeat alone, so make sure you aim for Juno’s heart! The entire Body has morphed into a robot several times your size! Aim for the heart! We’ll do business with the arms and legs!”, Razor, Delta, Sunderance, Vicky and Markus told Sora. Indeed, Juno was MASSIVE for a Celestial Body, so emphasis needed to be placed on the heart. A couple strikes was enough to damage it, but then it started protecting itself with gigantic shields big enough to protect the Pentagon. In order to weaken the shields, the<br/>arms needed to be destroyed. Razor and Delta took that job and ripped the arms apart after a successful amount of hits to the weak points. That’s when Sora thanked the heroes and continued hitting the heart. That’s when the blue core started cracking, meaning Ganymede was wounded. The shields came back up no doubt due to how stubborn Ganymede was. The skies turned a mix of red and dark blue, reflecting the villains at work here. The legs were up to Markus and Sunderance. It took Sunderance the fastest to destroy the weakpoints, but Markus had a bit of difficulty at first. Sora threw some Delta Cards he found at the remaining ones, and that destroyed the shields again. Ganymede this time threw his sword at Sora, which he dodged before he got close, but ended up hitting Delta. Razor caught her and took her back to Cool Silver. Meanwhile Sora hit Ganymede back and continued cracking the Blue Core. After a timely stab, Juno was done for and Ganymede’s body exploded all over the walls of his own establishment. Sora decided to do one last thing to the core of Juno before calling it quits. He kicked the core up to the ceiling (the main robot was already destroyed) so hard that the core disappeared. Aptitude was almost taken with it, and was understandably confused as to why Sora would do that. Anyhow, the battle was won and Sora has nothing to be afraid of. The story being told in his perspective means that the Student had more to learn from!<br/>With the highly convincing warped vision Sora was once in completely gone, our heroes made the return journey safe.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Toolbox Fallacy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>[PROLOGUE]<br/>Meet Alyssa. She is an adult red panda (not too common around these parts) who is taller than usual, carries a ton of weapons and typically fights with her legs, both of which are bionic. That allows her to do all sorts of acrobatic feats. She has a strong, no-nonsense personality that also flows into her combat style. She wields a pair of swords, a pair of blasters, just about any weapon listed on her Impact Cards, and a blisteringly effective moral code. Simply put, she is equipped to extinguish any signs of corruption.<br/>She lives in a little area in parts-unknown that she Delta like to call the Butterfly Garden. It’s an expansive grassland that houses a gigantic training room next to a room with a portal leading to the Inner Mind. Hanging overhead the Garden is a mysterious planet-sized satellite(?) called The Tower. The Tower looks like it’s covered completely in metal, with an enormous metallic plank sticking out of it, presumably acting as an extension. Not much is known about the Tower.<br/>She was tasked by Delta, who accompanies her, to perform reconnaissance duties in Sora’s part of Cool Silver. She’s monitoring his activity so that he doesn’t pull off an Inverse Heist that goes wrong. Should he do so, her job is to move in and handle the problem. It remains to be seen how this will go.<br/>[April 2nd: On Command]<br/>She then goes to monitor Sora as he darts throughout the rooms of the Metaverse Junctions... and to her surprise, none of the rooms are marked with the Sigma logo, which looks like the stylized Greek letter Σ. All of them are marked with Δ, for Delta. “That’s my kind of logo. You know, maybe he’s cleaned up his act when hunting around for new cards. That’s the way I see it, anyway. When you’re under quarantine like this, it can be hard to pick another thing to do. The hardest part is realizing that temptation can creep up on a guy at any moment, and take him by the neck and physically drag him, and all he has to do is to obey the command led by desire. I mean, it’s a very simple process, but in the meantime, it’s quite a hassle to try and break. I believe that he has successfully broken that fine trend. I believe that he isn’t stupid enough to endanger our world like that. I honestly believe...”, Delta rambles on before realizing that Alyssa’s gone.<br/>Alyssa had finished her recon mission and went back to the room she trained in with Delta, swinging around barbells bigger than herself with no problem. Then she dropped it upon seeing a poster on the wall that warns everyone who reads it about the “Crying Widows”, doll-like stick people with round heads and cylindric limbs that attack whenever they see an Entity. They’re half the size of the average Entity, but they’re<br/>rather easy to fight off if one is strong enough. Delta knows about these things quite well, so she trained Alyssa in the art of both using her legs and not using them. Alyssa was allowed to have her weapons later as a part of a different session. Anyway, Delta is completely unsure if the Widows originated from The Tower or not, but she is completely afraid to go up there because of the possible dangers that may lie within.<br/>[April 3rd: Expedition]<br/>With nothing else left to do, Alyssa asks Delta if she has a telescope in the Garden. Delta responds by showing Alyssa a room with all sorts of stargazing equipment inside. One of which is a telescope. Alyssa uses it to stare at the Tower, wondering of its composition, layout, structure, etc. It appears metallic, and there IS a geometric rectangular block sticking out of it... still doesn’t tell Alyssa anything about it or why it’s there. Delta figures it could be the source behind the Crying Widows. In any case, she manages to find a way to send Alyssa up there, and so she takes the mission.<br/>A moon-like metal planet overlooked by a dark sky. The footing is treacherous, so be on your guard. While big, the Tower’s extra block is actually a superhighway of various Entities walking back and forth, transmitting data to and from the Tower. Alyssa had never seen<br/>anything like this before. She decided it would be best to keep looking around.<br/>[April 4: Superhighway]<br/>Before Alyssa performed her first assignment, she made sure to mask her position from anyone else. Delta did the exact same thing beforehand. This is because Sora caught on to the fact that she was spying on him in the first place, and tried to seek her location from the Inner Mind. Although he had no way of accessing the Butterfly Garden from the Inner Mind, he could use the tracking system that he had equipped in Cool Silver. He tried that method.<br/>Unfortunately for him, there was only an Alyssa clone that was more powerful than Alyssa herself stationed at the Tower. Sora warped up there to see what was up and landed in the outskirts of the Superhighway. He couldn’t find anything at first, until the clone sneaked up on him and pricked him with a needle. A needle that merged Sora with the entire Superhighway, a highly technological component of the Tower that held powerful secrets.<br/>Once he arrived there, everything that Sora knew was no longer present. He was wearing a green, technologically advanced outfit outlined with green LEDs. His beam swords were also upgraded to fit the environment. The place itself looked positively glowing. It appeared like a city that was impacted by a growth of technology and wouldn’t look out of place in a cyberpunk story.<br/>The first thing he was tasked to do was to defeat a large, crystalline dragon surrounded by 4 crystals in the middle of the “street”. If the crystals were broken, the dragon doubled in size and took double damage from all attacks.<br/>The weirdness did not stop there.<br/>After the dragon incident (long story short Sora sawed it in half when it flew over him right into his beam sword), Sora was then warped to a room resembling a hallway, and in one of the rooms was a gigantic white worm that fired equally white streams of...matter. It already killed 4 System Guards in the room it was in, and now it was going for our hero. Sora tried his best there to destroy the worm, dodging its white streams and countering with well-placed strikes. After THAT, Sora was warped to an open field, and none other than Solaris contacted him. He said: “Listen, Sora. The Clearance is not your friend. You may have gone there to send over Missionary Discs in your free-time, but as you have known from a little somebody, those people usually spend<br/>more time discussing topics that wouldn’t be accessible to those of a lower-class age level. Simply put, they were wracking your brain because you were trying to harvest points from a bunch of sex-crazed devils. That circle was not meant for you, nor I, or anyone else with common sense. Your adamant refusal to tell anyone about your discovery before your exile was without lack of reason. You would’ve been shaken had someone found out about your little cycle with the devil. I know this endeavor took an entire year to solve, but right now you have to break away. Expand your horizons. Stick to what you know. Stick to what is true. Stick to what is right. Every turn across that fortress you call Fuzzy does not always lead to the right path. Maybe the Gate of Prayer can sort this out. You can always count on the one who provides you your soul. Not right now, but ponder this the next time you pick fruit off the forbidden tree.” At this, Sora felt something. He was gaining unfathomable power at an alarming rate, and it was affecting his adrenaline levels. He was able to destroy objects miles away from him with a gesture from both his body and mind. He was able to leap a height that no superhero has ever been able to jump. In control of his powers, Sora traveled to the Superhighway Streets in search of some more things to do.<br/>He killed Guards (corrupt cops).<br/>He destroyed entire buildings associated with the dark side of Fuzzy.<br/>He showed a dragon his total power by annihilating it with a flick of his wrist.<br/>He tested his jump by nearly jumping off of the Superhighway. He managed to stick the landing afterwards.<br/>After all of this was done, a room was shown to him, and in it was a gigantic, blob-like creature that had expanded to the size of two refrigerators. Sora couldn’t bring himself to destroy it, for alas, it was the Student’s way of letting him know that there is no turning back to The Clearance. He was done and ready to migrate. Sora had accomplished the goal of fully powering himself up with what Delta claimed could “boost his awareness levels”. The Superhighway as we know it was still mostly uncharted, though. How could it unfold even more?<br/>[April 5: Good Souls]<br/>During a little walk down the streets, Sora saw a familiar figure. He was the manager of The Clearance. He had previously emerged from the blob-like creature mentioned before. The two could only meet each other’s eyes before Sora struck a pose, waiting for him to come closer. When the Prospector indeed rushed to meet Sora head to head, Sora just threw him backwards with his telekinetic powers and rushed to meet him head on. The two flying in the air, they clashed throughout the cybernetic city, nobody caring about the movements in the sky. Punches were thrown without arm movement, fighters were knocked aside by what appeared to be gale force wind, and no hits were actually landed yet. It wasn’t until they landed in the Creative Room that Solaris warped them both in that they started drawing blood. One hit after another reminded Sora of how badly he was treated in the Clearance in the long run, despite his Missionary Discs serving him well. He was positively hot under the collar (to say the LEAST) to know that this was the man who defended those that covered the floor in [REDACTED] and spread their smutty humor all over the walls. Sora was quick to tear this man apart and make him feel it. He started first by hanging him in the air by two vertices, then telekinetically ripping apart his legs, then by separating his arms from his body. Then he used razor winds to chop up the torso before kicking the lifeless head into the horizon.<br/>He was miles stronger than anyone he ever fought, and he showed it well. Having gotten over his anger over being shoved aside, Sora took a<br/>moment to stare upon the coarse and suggestive memes submitted by what Solaris called “The devil’s hands”.<br/>[April 6: And now for something completely different.]<br/>The Sky Palace. A floating structure consisting of many platforms, this multi-layered location spans an entire atmosphere and comes with its own dangers. But first, some introductions. The platforms are made up of durable stone, and are held together by chains. The yellow stones all link to the central platform, which leads to a building. This building contains several important artifacts that reveal the history of this side of the Metaverse. The side that Luminary’s located in.<br/>Showing up here for the first time are Wolf, Mouse and Della, all having landed here from the same point on the Newcomer’s Platform. They were trying to find out how to get back to Luminary following the world merge. Instead, Mouse found himself jumping on the platforms, staying steady as so not to fall off, and winding up on the Central Platform. The building ahead revealed some truths to him. He alerted everyone to his current location, and to his dismay they were trying to right themselves so that they wouldn’t fall off, panicking as they tried so. Mouse just shook his head and scanned the artifacts. The only thing he was able to piece together was some info about a “Delta Ring” ....<br/>“Uh, guys, this stuff’s important. For one, these artifacts hold a legendary power....”, Mouse alerted everyone before he realized that Della and Wolf JUST made it to the Central Platform. “Look at the stuff I just got.”, Mouse reported before showing off one of the most powerful pieces of jewelry ever presented: The Diamond Delta. A ring of unfathomable power. It has the power to turn the tides of any battle the wearer fights in, as long as it’s on the finger. Mouse had only one thing left to do, and that was return it to Cool Silver. Delta might know something about it.<br/>[April 7: Supremacy]<br/>Sora, wandering the Superhighway, enters some sort of building, which turns out to conceal something much greater. It’s actually a visage of a supermarket! It’s covered in blue, futuristic lines, and there’s a green trail that supposedly leads to Sora’s true target. Sora follows the trail and what do you know...<br/>It’s a sticker pack. A sticker pack featuring characters that Sora has seen before. Characters that are associated with Solution City’s source, the Master Disc’s Presentation. And that’s when Sora was warped to<br/>another world. An expanded version of that supermarket. A world filled with all sorts of things related to the expanse of pop culture. Pop culture comes to life in the Metaverse, so this is more of a surprise to Sora than anything else! He gets to actually absorb knowledge from the various movie cases an entire aisle or two over! His powers start to fluctuate from the different combinations of things to experience! “Good, this is a good sign! When the light pierced through the mirror with the Heaven’s Door, this is exactly what the Coordination Clock grew up to be! A gateway to the most bountiful sources of power ever acquired! The Glass Portal has awakened... You get to be a powerful warrior once and for all! A force of good that can destroy all that is unclean! This is the Experience Chamber. A place where warriors like you can test out their strength with all the space one needs. Absorb it all, for your next test is coming.”<br/>Solaris was right. Just when Sora was getting used to his new psychic powers (telekinesis, precognition, advanced knowledge of surroundings, increased intelligence, the ability to walk on walls and the ceiling and enhanced speed and strength to name a few) as well as a new firearm (an enhanced Corruption Biter that actually resembles a real handgun (probably a SIG Sauer P320), complete with a shiny silver grip lined with rubber and a metal frame, but possesses more range, durability and has the ability to change its firepower, whether it carries explosive rounds or regular shots), he got wind of a new power out to get him. It was a new group that was made of the inhabitants of the Clearance. The Sex Devils.<br/>“Not these guys again.”, Sora understandably sighed. He had already fought their leader as the Wretched Soul before, but now he’s<br/>apparently still living. And he won’t die until his place is forgotten, dead and a memory. “Well, just looking at him won’t solve any problems, you gotta do something about it!”, Solaris exclaimed.<br/>Sora took out his gun and fired upon the Devils, which resembled crazed hyenas more than coherent entities. They exploded in a shower of blood/gore. “Didn’t see that coming at all.”, Sora commented about the sudden brutality.<br/>Sora just kept firing at the Devils and swinging at them with his Beam Sword. The ground was trailing with red as he went along slicing and dicing and firing shots and swiping Delta Cards to incantate Synergetic pulses. It was basically another testing ground for his powers.<br/>Pulling heads apart and ripping Devils in two.<br/>Firing the Corruption Biter inside the mouths of Devils, blowing them up from the inside.<br/>Activating Delta Cards in their mouths, achieving the effect above.<br/>Using the bodies of dead Devils to whip other Devils around and massacre them too.<br/>Throwing objects at groups of them, spreading their carcasses all over the supermarket/mall.<br/>“I didn’t know this place was a mall...!”, Sora commented. Just then, the mall illusion lit up and slammed Sora towards the wall, vibrating at a rapid pace for a while until it suddenly stopped. Sora lifted himself off the wall and found himself in a council-like area.<br/>“Posture yourself.”, a mysterious figure said. Sora took a kneeling position right after she said that. “Sora, was it?”<br/>The knights in the area, who wore heavy silver armor that was cut and scraped from all the battles they have been through, stepped aside to reveal their leader.<br/>“Listen. I go by Oracle nowadays.”, she said. She was a lagomorph wearing a robe outfitted with purple and white. Her hat was the same color and had copper-colored strands hanging off of it. She looked rather regal, and resembled the ruler of a castle. She also looked very powerful. “I know why you’re going after the Sex Devils. We have been too, for decades. Our constant battles against them proven that they won’t subside. We’ve tried our best against them. We’ve waged WARS against them. (Other knights beside Oracle): “Yes we have.” (Oracle): “I know your story already. You had come back to the Clearance after a week-long hiatus and you could not believe that the bulk of images produced by the Missionary Discs others made were largely consisting<br/>of risqué humor. (She takes out a missionary disc of her own that she salvaged when Sora burned up his collection of Discs. It lights up to reveal a leftover project Sora had already made and was about to send to the Clearance.) You made something that asked a question you had on your mind ever since you got there. ‘Why is this place so sex-obsessed?’ Your question was answered, but you saw through their excuses. You said something that the boss man himself, the Maestro, came up to speak to you about. You didn’t like their practices, you admitted it to their faces by saying that they only focused on sex, and they kicked you out for it. You knew what was right. You knew exactly what was right. The Maestro is out for us too. Except you should know something. He isn’t even the real person. He’s a mere projection that was created in the Metaverse once you were expelled. You kept fighting him, but he just kept coming back stronger. We’re your allies. If you need our assistance, you can easily contact us by striking this card. It lets you request the help of our forces. Do take care now!”<br/>She sends Sora back to the supermarket where he fought at the first time, this time clear of Sex Devils....but covered in enough gore to overrun a blood bank. “Well, let’s get started on one of the most important parts of your powers. Oracle told me about this shortly before you showed up.”, Solaris said. He then had Sora unveil 4 glowing energy swords that floated around and rotated around Sora.<br/>[April 9: Attentive]<br/>These swords were controlled by the user’s mind. Able to cut, block and do everything a regular sword can, they’re useful for tactical strategizing. All 4 of them were orange, and radiated a powerful aura. “Laevateinn, Mjolnir, Gungnir and Yggdrasil. 4 powerful swords, all shaped the same, regardless of name. These swords are in your hands. With them, slaying your foes will be much easier from this point forward.<br/>Look, Sora! You have carte blanche over the next thing you do! It’s all yours from here on out!”, Solaris exclaimed. The next thing Sora was going to do was already set in stone. He rushed out of the supermarket, already done with his mission, and saw an unbelievable force in the horizon. The streets were glowing, but the most important part was that there was a golden ring. A ring that, beyond it, was leading to some sort of clear sky. “The Glass Portal! When the arrow of light pierces and shatters it, it unlocks the gateway to a previously uncharted area! I think we should explore it!”, he suggested shortly before Oracle FLEW out of it and spoke to Sora. “I found something in that Portal. It was two worlds. One of them was an area that when I stepped in it, the floor rippled like water but was 0% liquid. The other world appeared to have a stained-glass pattern to it. Like, it had these different stained-glass colors...”<br/>“She found the Gate of Prayer?”, Sora asked quizzically.<br/>[April 10: Pulse Therapy]<br/>Mouse and co. came back to Cool Silver to learn that it had been transformed into a large arena by the overwhelming amount of Delta Cards that had been analyzed and revealed by Delta! She took the initiative to find any Theta Cards lying around and destroy them. The Partials came in different varieties, like birds, foxes, anthropomorphic dragons, and wolves.<br/>“Oh, I didn’t see you guys there! I was just cleaning house!”, she said. “Well, so are we.”, Mouse replied in a determined tone of voice. He took out two guns and shot one of the Theta Partials in the face. “Everyone prepare for action!”, he shouted. He went over and grabbed a Partial, flipped it over with a grab-and-throw, then delivered two<br/>strikes to the one next to it before cracking it in the face with a kick. Delta took out her rapier and Mouse jumped up and kicked it into a Partial. He then speedily ran over, pulled it out from the dead Partial, then threw it back to Delta as she turned around and cut two more of them in half. “Neat plans there, Mouse.”, Delta commented. Della made good use of her powers and literally blew up three of them in front of her, while Wolf made the best use of his time by using wrestling moves against the Partials around him. In particular, he suplexed one, did a lariat against another, and dropkicked a third into Mouse, who quickly replied by launching it through the air with a well-timed punch.<br/>Mouse’s next trick was to weave through 5 different Partials, tagging them as he went along, but so fast that nobody noticed. As soon as he decapitated one, the rest of them had their heads blown off as well. “Spare the ones I tell you to spare! If they don’t look sexualized, then you can keep it in Millennium!”, Delta shouted. “So that’s where we are. So, where’s Cool Silver?”, Della asked. “Right out of the door. It’s that door at the far south of the coliseum.”, Delta replied. Every partial in the area heard that and started rushing for the door. “Keep them held back!”, Delta told Mouse. While Mouse was doing a combo on one Theta Partial, he suddenly struck a pose, then quickly slapped the Theta Partial on the neck to kill it. Then he levitated a dozen Delta Cards in front of him, which formed a circle. That circle of cards summoned an unnamed mouse wearing a necklace that, when she activated it, created a heavenly light that consumed every Partial that did so much as THINK about the door.<br/>Every Delta Card that was spared was not affected. Millennium was safe and turned back into the computerized surrealist world that it was intended to be. Everyone stopped and turn to watch the Delta Cards merge back with the wall, which activated a large array of blue lights that lit up the entire room. ‘90s error messages and blocky worm-like particles passed by in the background, surrounded by a pink atmosphere reminiscent of a certain art movement that defined a generation.<br/>Meanwhile, Oracle and Sora had dived into the Stained-Glass World when a mysterious individual passed them by and struck Sora hard enough to make him crash into the walls. That guy was Caldera.<br/>[April 11: Return Offering (Caldera’s Words)]<br/>“The Stained-Glass World is a terrifying place to be in. It’s a direct projection of the Student’s problems, including the sudden situations of life that take him by the hand. He has priorities, but this place stays in the heart. When that place feels hurt, it’s because this world has grown another shard. This world was forged out of a long-lasting desire to not do anything. Procrastination fuels this world one-by-one. Destroying it is no easy task. Unique types of Partials spawn here, and it will be a real task trying to eliminate them. I highly recommend you take a hike through the Gate of Prayer and strengthen up there first. That’s where I<br/>got my strength from all this time. If you stay here, you’ll be overwhelmed in no time. Thankfully, cool heads always press on through.”<br/>Caldera, before Sora could do anything else, pushed him into another portal, this time to the Gate of Prayer. Oracle followed him there, only to enter the Ripple Pass.<br/>Caldera is a very fearsome fighter. He wears a black cape with contrasting-color armor, and he wields a sword that can become a part of his body through merging. That way, he can adapt with any situation.<br/>And sure enough, he had done that in time for the next Partial to show up and fight him...<br/>[April 12: “A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.”]<br/>Altea Partials, dark, menacing entities, are most well known for being the fiercest, toughest things in the Metaverse to fight. So much so that this one, Dreary 13, had utterly crushed Caldera under his hands. They dueled for a bit in the air with their swords before Dreary managed to cripple him. Thankfully, once Sora made it back from the Gate of Prayer (it had automatically placed him back in the Stained-Glass World), he saw what was going on and decided to intervene. Dreary 13 noticed him and silently glared at him. He was almost caught off guard by Sora<br/>before he fired back, knocking him towards a sphere of glass shards. Sora grabbed one and rocketed himself towards Dreary 13. They continued to duel with swords, Dreary almost getting cut due to his sword’s inability to clash with Sora’s beam swords. In the end, Sora was nearly finished off by Dreary’s blade technique which hit multiple times, but Sunderance shoved him (Dreary) out of the way and pummeled him quite a bit. “Sora, these types of missions aren’t quite up to your skill level. Go back to the Gate of Prayer and strengthen up a bit.”, Sunderance said. “The Gate of Prayer sent me back here.”, Sora replied. This actually surprised Sunderance, but little did he know....<br/>“I think the Gate of Prayer wants me to be here. It’s trying to help the Student/me overcome one of his/my best-known trials, and that is to actually engage in constructive activities. The Altea Partials here are my enemies, not even you can beat them, Sunderance. This is my responsibility. If you can lend a hand, lend me one. However, I'll be the one doing the heavy lifting around here.”, Sora explained, with Quincy behind him synchronizing with his lines equipped with his Outer Soul, Teenager’s Link. This partially visible humanoid has the ability to defy reality as we know it, striking enemies where it hurts the most – their mere existence. As a result, its attacks bypass most immunities and shields. This allows the user to destroy Altea Partials the easiest way possible. Quincy has a link with the Student so tight that the Student had actually manifested himself as his Outer Soul. “Sora, this is a team effort. If you want to actually strengthen yourself by destroying the toughest guys around, you’d have to do so through a bond strong enough to endure the pressure of a diamond cutter. Diamond is the hardest on the Mohs scale of hardness and when sharpened, it can cut through lesser jewels. That is how the cutters are able to forge rings of the highest carats. But enough with the metaphors, we’ve a job to do.”,<br/>Quincy said to Sora. The Stained-Glass World was quite enormous, being the result of a fractal that kept going, reflecting how the tendencies expressed by the Partials here will keep the world flowing for years to come.<br/>Había un hombre, un gato que podía sostenerse, que creó un libro que, según él, podía dividir el mundo. Escribió el libro, lo terminó a tiempo y observó cómo el libro le daba poderes más allá de su control. Sintiendo una oleada repentina pero inexplicable, se dispuso a descubrir quién podía publicar y aprobar su creación.<br/>[April 13: Common Nuisance]<br/>Quincy and Sora ventured through one of the Superhighway’s most notorious areas: The Junction Matrix. It’s a web of Metaverse Corridors that contain Elements needed for Delta Cards to function. Scratching a card on a wall has never been easier, though Quincy did warn Sora to stay on the safe side. “Let’s check the rogues gallery.”, Quincy suggested after a few hours of walking through Corridors. They eventually reached that point, and as Sora walked through the hallways, he noticed that a lot of the people that were kicked out of the Junction Matrix were underage users. Additionally, some still couldn’t keep their inner desires to themselves, and thus, had to remind the world that they were lust incarnate. “Quincy!”, he shouted. “What is it?”, he responded. “I think the attitudes of some of the people here are quite... off.”, he remarked. “This IS an adults-only area, right?” “Oh yes. We’re undercover here, and nobody has noticed us yet. Did you scratch any Delta Ca--”, Quincy explained. “THEN WHY ARE WE DOWN HERE?!”, Sora yelled so loudly that The Maestro eventually found them<br/>and teleported to their location. “You know, juveniles like you shouldn’t be around one of Fuzzy’s most well-known hotspots.”, he said. “Well, I’m not dumb enough to think that everyone over there does this kind of stuff.”, Sora replied. “Then let me show you what you’re--”, The Maestro is about to say. Then Sora lightly taps him on the head. “You’re it!”, Sora says as he chuckles and turns around, running towards the exit. Quincy follows suit. They slide around on rails, with Sora screaming: “I’m never going back here again!” He takes out a blank card and scratches the wall with it, instantly obtaining a new Ultimax Card. Before he can properly store it, he drops it, the card falling to the depths of the Superhighway before landing in the Streets on top of a building. Once Quincy and Sora made it out, The Maestro is revealed to have followed them. “Look. You’re not gonna prance around thinking you can escape my influence.”, he says before getting punched in the face by Teenager’s Link, breaking his nose. “And YOU’RE not gonna prance around thinking you can keep us at unrest!”, Quincy replied.<br/>Then, the card that Sora dropped glows. A large, fleshy pink cube emerges from it. Everyone turns around to watch the horror that emerged from the cube... A hand popped out. Then, a head! The head of a pink, anthropomorphic cat-like creature. It looked female. But one must never judge a book by its cover, because when this feline entity finally crawled out of the cube, he said in a rather deep voice: “I have the right to bear arms. To the horizon with you!” before jumping up and physically removing The Maestro from the Streets with a mysterious guardian that isn’t exactly visible at the moment. The Maestro fled, apparently wanting nothing to do with this creature.<br/>“I have done a ton of research on this entity.”, Delta said before arriving in the Streets through one of Oracle’s Glass Portals. She had given permission to enter the Superhighway, as she had been looking for Sora ever since the time he left for The Tower. “He is the last of a race of powerful creatures capable of many things. He is a Conduit. Conduits are capable of doing what we can, but better. He doesn’t afraid of anything, he is quite serious about what he does, and he even--”, Delta explains. “What is he doing over there?”, she asks.<br/>Conduit had walked through a Glass Portal he created himself and is wrecking Sora’s Soul Canvas! “It’s utter garbage. Let me fix it for you.”, he said. The rest of the team walked through the portal with Conduit and sure enough, the Canvas was mostly destroyed. Conduit made a new one in advance and started drawing something. “Alright, start with the circles, then draw the guides... Now, we do the ears first. Don’t wanna mess that up. Then I can start doing the face!”, Conduit said to himself as he drew a picture of an anthropomorphic rabbit with a pencil. The paper started to glow after he completed a certain number of steps, for Conduit was revealing a peculiar type of art style! Quincy pointed this out to Sora as Conduit went along. Sora looked upon Conduit’s achievement, but soon enough, he flipped the paper over and started drawing a fox. He used a different method this time, as his pattern had to change for his next assignment. Within minutes, he was done, and he presented a blank Card. “I found your art style, Sora. You seem to prefer shrunken down body proportions and wide, expressive faces.”, Conduit told Sora. Except “This isn’t my art style, you’re channeling The Student.”, Sora said. “The Student is involved with this?”, Quincy exclaimed. “Ah yes, that old sport. I too have a tight link with him.”, Conduit explained. “Do you know who he might be?”, Delta asked. “It’s an unwritten rule that we do not discuss the Student’s<br/>origins. That is completely up to Sora.”, Conduit says. “I am a very powerful organism. Despite my height, I have never lost a fight, neither in that universe, or this one. I can command a wide variety of techniques, old and new. I’m a master of manipulating a very old form of power that is considered obsolete in today’s period of time. Watch.”<br/>Conduit moves his arms around and draws a circle in the air with his finger. That circle expands to become an energy circle. The team watches as that energy circle revolves around Conduit and produces 4 pink pulsating spheres of energy. “Endear Energy. The Metaverse is made up entirely of the minds of billions of people around the world. I barely escaped from a collapsing world but was saved by a card similar to this one.”, he said as he swiped his blank card across the air, which interacted with his drawing by integrating the two-sided paper on both sides of the card, thus creating the very first dual-sided Delta Card. He then struck it across the air again, transforming his Echo into a replica of the drawing he made, called Developing Artstyle. It is a very flexible and interchangeable Outer Soul that takes the form of whatever the user draws. As such, it has limitless amounts of potential and can use pretty much any move pool that the drawing has access to. It has two forms currently, but the available number of forms is subject to change.<br/>“There is still much to explore here. We need to get moving.”, Conduit says. “Is there anywhere else we need to go?” Everyone else looks at Delta, who creates a Glass Portal leading to the Stained-Glass World.<br/>[April 14]<br/>“Arthur! You haven’t done anything all day! The Stained-Glass World is just plain neutral! If you actually do something, then your world will be healthy and increase! If you can’t do anything and just let your work sit there incomplete, something will have to be taken from you. I hate to take your things, but something has to be done. Literally. I can’t endanger our productivity...”<br/>Conduit heard this from the back of his head and wondered who that voice was talking to. It was clearly not his travelling band, as they were all silent throughout the journey through the Glass Portal. Then he heard another voice.<br/>“Do you ever wonder what’s hidden beneath that glass? The glass that lines the walkable portion of the Streets? That’s the masses. The careless masses of the world that walk back and forth communicating their day-to-day activities while you sit here in your part of the mind attempting to change things for the better. You’re probably better off than the others down there. In fact, the Streets are carte blanche to you because you’re just in a really convincing version of the streets – better yet, the entire Tower. The Superhighway is just a fraction of the Tower, the actual place being much, much bigger. I’m here in the Butterfly Garden making sure you know this, because guess what? I’m farming. I’m farming for the usual fruits and vegetables that farmers usually grow. That’s because I wasn’t given an assignment to do.”<br/>That, Conduit knew, was from someone outside the Tower. It was Alyssa. She did, indeed, take up farming behind Delta’s training room. In fact, she already plotted a large chunk of land and was about to grow all kinds of plants, like tomatoes, potatoes, and cabbage. She already had the seeds on hand. All she needed to do now is plant them and water them. Then she can have the perfect garden to build a greenhouse around one day. Not today, because she doesn’t plan on selling her plants yet. Why a farmer, you ask? Because such things are not to be questioned. Who’s gonna provide the food? Of course, she is very adept at combat as well, so never get the wrong impression.<br/>Following the “Arthur” rant, Sora started having convulsions of the worst kind. A voice kept pressuring him to “stop doing those pointless tasks”. This voice eventually revealed himself to be a skeletal Echo named Inactivity. The meteoric superpower of procrastination, Inactivity is a very high-ranking Echo that can not only deal very high amounts of damage with one hit of its massive hands, but can also teleport nearly anywhere, react with the speed of a magician performing the bullet catch trick, and pretty much shield its user with a 60% success rate, because it’s not very durable, and its hits can easily miss.<br/>Conduit proves that a brute like Inactivity can be put down for good when he engages Inactivity in a fight. To beat Inactivity, one must remember these guidelines: NEVER get too close to it. Doing so may result in attacks harming Sora instead. Instead, ranged attacks might do<br/>the trick, and Conduit has plenty. Whatever one does, jumping is not highly recommended, as Inactivity’s anti-air attacks are its best strategy. Instead, stay on the ground, focus on ranged attacks and parry A LOT. Otherwise a large chunk of health would be lost.<br/>Sunderance is trying his hardest to navigate his part of the Stained-Glass World, but Inactivity’s duplicate keeps following him around. In response, he does everything he can to fight him off and stay away from his attacks, which destroy a lot of terrain along the way. “Yes, this is the hardest gauntlet of the math section. Every twist and turn will end in another hurdle. I’m already facing ungodly amounts of stress as I run through this mass of darkness...”, Sunderance thinks to himself.<br/>Eventually, Inactivity is wounded, but Sora offers to merge with him. “I don’t want to do anything else now. The Student is having a way with himself and I want to calm him down.” “Even after all the things you’ve done with us? You’re gonna throw us away that quickly? Wow, such a well-meaning individual...”, Quincy asks him, responding with sarcasm. But Quincy was the one with Teenager’s Link, not Sora. “Simply put, there are far more entertaining recreational offerings available to me, like simply enjoying the peace and quiet of the lack of burden put on me. What’s wrong with this offer?!”, Sora asks. His limbs start to become metallic. Then, his body undergoes a robotic shift as Sora’s mentality begins to devolve due to a negative part of the Student’s influence. “ALL OF IT.”, Proxima Centauri answers while leaving Sora’s side and transforming into the Celestial Body Jotun. Jotun is a quite large, blue metallic giant that wields a gigantic sword called Dáinsleif.<br/>Dáinsleif looks like it could cleave a building in half, yet Centuari faces down our heroes and Sora, who has now fused with Inactivity into a demigod-like being named Mordred. “Think about all the time to yourself you could have! It’s a wonder I even think about spending time with these hard-workers! I’m gonna turn this world into a factory that does everything it can for me! AND ONLY ME!”, Mordred’s voice sounds like a liquid-metallic being trying to speak and for good reason – he is barely a coherent entity. Covered in metal and only able to use metallic weapons, he runs over and tries to cut Quincy with his sword-hand, only to be nearly cut in half by Jotun. Mordred avoided the slash and went after Jotun in a battle of the titans. Befitting how huge Jotun is, Mordred made it a point to go after the weak spot. However, Jotun’s sword lasers, eye beams, wide slashes, and punches made that a real task for Mordred to go through. As a result, he made good on his new powers and speedily rushed over to the weak spot and started hitting it. Jotun just blasted him out of the way with the weak spot and slashed Mordred with his sword, causing half of his armor to break away before it grew back. Then, Jotun shrunk himself down a size, revealing his slimmer Odin form. Then, the two fought in the air with swords triumphantly, Mordred growing his from his arm.<br/>Weaving and thrusting and dodging and slashing and stabbing and roving about in the air, the two warriors had a lot on their hands. Their battle was not clean, as it involved tons of armor damage, as well as cuts and scratches and what not. Centauri did not see Sora’s betrayal come so fast, and it was all because of an opportunity that he had to take up because the Student demanded it after nearly shutting down entirely. All because he couldn’t have the world he wanted, all because he just didn’t want to see a change in his typical “routine”. That routine involving sitting around not changing. Change had to happen someday, and whether it involved<br/>forced change, voluntary change, assisted change or natural change, it had to happen. Sora wasn’t going to let this change go. “Don’t you get it?! The Student wants me around. He wants to see me do what he says and it goes. I must be the Student. I am the Student!”, he says before getting distracted by his own words and getting knocked back by Odin.<br/>“No Sora. You’ve been lying to yourself for three whole months!”, Quincy said before activating Teenager’s Link, then having it literally punch Mordred to the other side of the Stained-Glass World. His neck broken, his spirits crushed, his ego shattered, his motive gone. Mordred, also known as Sora, was buried inside one of the foamy spherical platforms that made up the Stained-Glass World, forever to be haunted by decay and a fate worse than death. He was practically dead. “I’m the Student.”, Quincy told him, even after Sora couldn’t hear anything. “The Student’s true name is Arthur, and I have a link with him. A link so tight it cannot be broken. We were once separated, but we have joined together now that I’ve fixed this flaw. Now we shall continue our hard work and make change HAPPEN!”, he shouts.<br/>A black fleck of dust floats by him at that point, and it’s at that point he realized that Sora was being molded into an Altea Partial by Inactivity’s influence. But it doesn’t matter since Sora can’t escape his fluffy prison. He’ll be forever trapped there, left to die alone and without movement.<br/>“Let’s explore more of the Stained-Glass World, I’m sure we can get things done here.”, Sunderance says arriving at the heroes’ side of the Stained-Glass World. The remaining heroes agree to this, and set off.<br/>[April 15: Extra Mission Part 1]<br/>• Current Characters: Delta (supporting), Sunderance, Quincy, Conduit, Odin<br/>Delta gave everyone an assignment while pardoning herself to make some arrangements with Solution City.<br/>“There’s two paths you can go down. One of them is a very difficult math-related gauntlet that Sunderance went down evading an Inactivity clone. It is loaded with flying objects to cut down, like math symbols and numbers. If you can survive that AND the extreme amounts of heat there, the reward at the end is quite promising. Did I mention that it’s an obstacle course, so absolute skill is required to move through the course successfully?<br/>The OTHER course is much easier. It’s basically a physics test involving – again – a ton of numbers (you’ll be seeing Planck’s constant a bunch), various frequencies of light, and a large, metallic wall. You don’t have to complete the light test, but it grants pretty good rewards if you do so. I highly recommend taking a break around the half-way part. It’s a pretty<br/>long course, so there’s a checkpoint there. After that, you’ll be going up against some Altea Partials that guard the way to the correct answers to the questions given. Don’t slack off, now! I expect you to try your best!”<br/>“Did you invent this thing? If not, how come you know so much about it?”, Sunderance asked. “I didn’t. I just simply know the ins and outs. I know when there’s Partials in an area because that’s only one of the things I provide. And that’s info. I must be off, now. I have a very important thing to do.”, Delta answered before walking off into a Glass Portal. “So, which one do we take first?”, Conduit asked. “The science lessons.”, every other hero responded. “Good choice.”, Conduit replied. They pretty much took off towards the Science Path. Meanwhile, Sunderance is wondering how much effort is required to simply walk to the Math Entrance.<br/>Everyone was in a competition to get to the half-way point faster. The only ones seemingly catching up with one another are Sunderance and Quincy. They were pretty much locking eyes at one another as puzzle after puzzle were completed faster than the other team members could reasonably travel at. Conduit, however, deliberately stayed with the slower heroes to help them out with their puzzles. Once he saw the Partials, however, he ditched the “extra credit” thing and went after them. He also encouraged the slower heroes to do the same, noting that the only thing required to do was pass the lesson.<br/>The Partials here aren’t that even remotely threatening, but they were threatening enough for Conduit to literally rip the arms of one of them, beat that fox to death with them, then jump up and stab a bird Partial<br/>with those same arms. He’s not exactly a fair player, but he was determined to get them through the mission.<br/>Especially if Quincy’s free balling by not even using the Outer Soul that the Student gave him in the first place. “The light work is not on me today.”, he remarked to himself. “The half-way point’s where it’s at.”<br/>At the end of the lesson, everyone remarked that they had a great experience doing the task. Conduit even remarked that the entire course could have been done by him alone. (It could have been. Courses like that are rookie numbers to Conduit.) However, Quincy had a little something extra to reveal to them.<br/>[April 16: Extra Mission Part 2]<br/>“I’ve figured out why Inactivity attacked Sora the way it did and got him killed. He was motivated by the power of the very last sin, Sloth (otherwise known as Laziness). See, time is important to Inactivity. The more time Sora spent doing things that would actually benefit the Student, the more that grey armor started to replace his old set and morph him into another state of mind altogether. He would do anything to hoard all the time to himself. ‘Himself’ not actually being Sora himself, but that of the Superhighway. More specifically, the corruptive influence that prevents anything from being done. The Treatment. The Treatment is a powerful influence that affects both corporeal entities below and, over time, metaphysical entities like us. The Treatment can destroy people’s<br/>views of the world and treat it as one big joke. It can be destructive if not treated. Imagine getting angry over something being taken away from you just because you were hit by the treatment. A force that harms you when you do something productive. It’s our job to fight it and all the Partials that come with it. The Treatment hides many dangers. Let’s not sit around all day and prevent a hard-working future from happening...”<br/>Quincy told everyone this at Cool Silver. His research was provided by some insight behind the Stained-Glass World. Namely, that his world, nor anyone else’s, was what they thought it was. Something was watching over them, and it feeds on the excessive pain felt by a metaphysical entity afflicted by the Treatment. Would it infect them all?<br/>Delta recites some highly complex math involving 4-dimensional space in order to reconstruct Solution City by teleporting the entire Refined Sanctuary into it (Remember that the one in Cool Silver is just the Presentation Room, this one combines the first floor of the Confined Mall, the large room in the Refined Sanctuary, and the top floors of the Refined Mall and Refined Sanctuary..) She does this to ensure that the Refined Sanctuary isn’t floating off in space ever since it got split off from Cool Silver.<br/>Docenas de editores rechazaron su creación simplemente porque estaba tratando de obtener un libro que separara a la pareja milagrosa publicada en la ciudad de la solución. En respuesta a esto, dejó que sus poderes del libro se soltaran, matando a cientos en el proceso. Con potencial divino, se dispuso a viajar por el mundo y dejar que aceptara su creación. Incluso si mata a todos.<br/>[April 17: Cross-dimensional Travel]<br/>Quincy went back to the Superhighway by creating a Glass Portal, a skill he took over from Sora. Sora didn’t know he could create Glass Portals, and neither did Quincy up until he inherited the skill. He didn’t know the Student gave it to him, either. Either way, upon landing in the Streets, he wandered far out south, walking until he reaches a prairie. A prairie next to a technological city! That’s quite a circumstance! Anyways, Quincy keeps walking until he hears a voice from the Student. That voice, so ethereal, and yet so familiar somehow... Who told Quincy to do this? No, he felt it. He felt this kind of thing happening.<br/>It was a slightly Native American/African American mixed accent.<br/>“Quincy. I know you can hear me from up here. This is the perfect place for us to relay messages to you. Listen. I gave you almost all of Sora’s skills when you killed him. The Inactivity is mostly dormant now, but I fear it may return to eat us both up, so I want you to assist me. There is a sword in the middle of the prairie. A silver sword. Use it, cut into the air by first running your finger across the blade to activate it and meet me in my room. I have a very important thing to bring up to you now. Now, go ahead. Take the sword, cut through the air... maybe bring some supplies with you or something. Use what you have and bring it with you. Either way, I’ll be waiting for you here!”<br/>Quincy then realized something. This prairie was his way of seeing the Ripple Field! The Gate of Prayer was hidden beneath this prairie, for he<br/>could feel that, too. Was there anything that Quincy could NOT feel? Either way, he set out to the middle of the prairie and picked up the sword. Its reflection does not show Quincy’s face. It instead shows the Student’s! However, since his face is framed in darkness, Quincy does not yet recognize him. He then cuts through the air one time, and a black-and-white portal is formed where he slashed. Quincy walks through there still holding the sword....<br/>And he arrives in a new world. The REAL world. As in, a not-quite realistic version of ours. Quincy has arrived in the Proto-World, which is an alternate version of ours that The Student has managed to create through merging the metaphysical and real worlds together. Thus, anything can happen in his viewpoint. The earth’s still the same, just more fantastical.<br/>“Quincy, it’s nice to finally see someone from the Metaverse that I can actually interact with in the Proto-World.”<br/>“Wait, this isn’t the actual, REAL world?”<br/>“It is. I just merged part of the Metaverse and the real world together. Now you’re here, and you’re smart enough to bring the Proto-Sword with you too. My name is Arthur Emerald, creator of Luminary and just about everything in it. Let me introduce you to my supply kit.”<br/>Arthur has dark brown skin and possesses darker brown eyes. He is rather calm and collected, which hides his true prowess as the master of this world.<br/>Arthur then presented Quincy some items that he has stored over the years that double as his weapons.<br/>• A pack of discs, each of which have their own special powers. The powers depend on the color and content of the disc. Movie DVDs and Blu-Rays have more sophisticated powers than audio CDs. Meanwhile software CDs are mostly used for status buffs.<br/>• A camera (part Canon, part Polaroid), which can blind enemies with its flash, then cut them in half with the actual pictures. That’s just how it works in the Proto-World.<br/>• A red beam sword (he calls it a light saber) that was once a toy, but now acts like the real deal.<br/>• A game controller, which can summon objects from different games and can be used to attack enemies. The controller is used to move around different game characters. All characters depicted are in 8-bit (and sometimes 16-bit).<br/>And one of the strongest in his possession (and most complicated):<br/>• Synthesizer keyboard, a useful last-resort weapon for when nothing else works. Different styles of music produce different results. Some songs played induce status buffs, debuffs and even attacks. Some<br/>songs are stronger than others, especially when they are charged by strong beats.<br/>“If used wisely, they prove to be extremely powerful despite them being regular household objects. I might add more to the catalog if I can. For right now though, you should make use of this. It’s a Delta Ring that allows you to move here whenever you need to. Don’t let the Inactivity slow you down!”<br/>As Arthur says this, an Inactivity Agent appears, having followed Quincy to the Proto-World. Arthur moves Quincy out of the way and blocks the Agent’s punches, then he demolishes the bot with three slashes of his beam sword. “See? I could probably beat anyone from the Metaverse. If the objects are typically seen as useful then they can be used to harm Metaverse beings. That’s why Luminary’s inhabitants look up to me the way they do. They see me as their family, and they have every reason to. I created them, making me a 7-time foster father. That despite my age. Anyways, you should be heading back to the Metaverse now. Don’t lose that ring. It’s SUPER important.”<br/>Arthur bids Quincy goodbye, but not before Quincy asks him a question. “How’d you merge the Metaverse and the Reality to make the Proto-World?”<br/>“Quadratic Merging. It’s a skill only the highest of the high-powered have, and for Proto-World people like me, it’s an effortless task. Be on your way now!”<br/>Quincy cuts his way back to the prairie, and Arthur then uses his synthesizer to re-open the Gate of Prayer from the comfort of his own room. Quincy notices this when the prairie suddenly opens itself up to reveal the gate before him. Amazed at this, Quincy runs off to tell the others about this neat discovery.<br/>Cool Silver’s empty, for everyone’s gone off to clear the Desktop Assignment. So, Quincy joins them on that quest.<br/>Before he knows it, he’s shrunken down to the size of a drinking cup. “It’s not every day that the world around you appears big, you know. Anyway, Stained-Glass World’s gone and--” Quincy nearly gets hit by a flying shard of paper. “Well, here we go again.”<br/>[April 18: Desktop Assignment]<br/>Quincy had landed in the Miniature. It was a world where everyone is tiny, and the objects are huge. The main objective of the group that went there was to cut up some sheets of paper. Doing that would slow down the flow of Altea Partials, ensuring the safety of the Stained-<br/>Glass World. The living room area, with its comfy amenities like a sofa and a fire place, was the area where the paper shreds were flying around the most, likely because that room is next to the Office, which consists of a desk, a printer in front of that desk, a computer tower which Conduit and Sunderance were trying to wreck (because if that’s gone, the flow of paper stops) and some Altea Partials trying to stop the main group. Quincy, upon finally making it to the Office in the next room, then brandished a Delta Card, making it rain thunder upon the computer tower, damaging it significantly. Then Quincy hops on the desk, dispatches the Partials with a non-activated Proto-Sword, and faces the rest of the main group, which also managed to include Razor and Tiffany. “There’s a way to access the Gate of Prayer. There’s a way to boost the entirety of Luminary.”, he said to them. “How’s that?”, Tiffany asked. “Follow me.”, Quincy responded.<br/>After the computer tower is destroyed and the printer knocked down, the group travel back to the Streets. “Follow me.”, Quincy reiterated. They walk south to the Ripple Prairie. “That light in the distance… is that supposed to mean something?”, Odin asked. “Yes, it is. It’s the Gate of Prayer. Today, we’re gonna travel to it and discover its secrets.”, Quincy answered. “And so, you choose the way of the righteous man.”, Solaris responded. “Did you think I’d forget? I meant this place for those who care. You, Quincy, are obviously a person of his word. You possess the qualities of a spiritual person worthy to enter the Gate! Pass through with caution. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.”<br/>Quincy thanked Solaris for this (but not by name), and went through the Gate of Prayer, followed by everyone else.<br/>What they saw was positively MAJESTIC.<br/>[April 19: The Divine Chamber]<br/>Arthur whisked himself away to an alcove on the side of a street. There in the ditch, he finds two legendary weapons. “A dream led me HERE...”, Arthur says to himself as he realizes how easy it was for him to find these artifacts. “The LED Ultra Blade... and the Gun, too!” The Blade appeared to be a broken toy sword outfitted with futuristic decorations... but when ignited, it’s actually a powerful broadsword lightsaber. The LED Ultra Gun is a crossbow gun that is outfitted with the same red decorations as the Blade... except instead of a lightsaber it fires either powerful, non-automatic blaster bolts or smaller, automatic blaster bolts that are designed to stun enemies to lead up to sword strikes.<br/>“So, the sword you just hold like this.... and the gun you hold like a gun. Then...”<br/>A swing of the sword leads to a bigger blaster shot! A triple blast of smaller projectiles allows for decent sword combos! A match made in heaven! Arthur pockets his loot and dashes out of the scene.<br/>“I can’t believe I found the best weapons in the Proto-World! They have to have kept their last owner alive for so long... I wonder what the Blade would do if it didn’t look so broken.”, he thinks before flying out of there (he’s the ruler of the Proto-World, he has a ton of powers) and returning to his room. He then stops and sits on the ground. As he lets his mind wander across the Proto-World, he then encounters a weird source of energy. The power to repel sin. It was a technique only a few could master. A blue spark that was especially effective against Sin Partials.<br/>Rebuff Energy.<br/>Weaponized properly, it’s a careful, yet highly effective method of combat. One must use it wisely, however. Being a tool of destruction, it can cause unintended side effects.<br/>Meanwhile, Team Luminary entered the Gate of Prayer and saw a wonderful structure. Made up entirely of golden chandeliers, the Divine Chamber was a haven for all things spiritual. The sparkly candles appeared to be made out of glass. Their flames were translucent, yet lit up the place brightly. Everything was just so majestic that Tiffany asked for a camera. Waiting there on the center platform was none other than Angel. His lab was moved from Lowercase to here following the Proto-Merge. Thus, Mako is nowhere to be seen currently. “Welcome, you all. I<br/>know you haven’t seen me in ages, but I have taken the time during the unrest to strengthen myself even more. Quincy, that means that sword of yours couldn’t even tickle me. Even if it was the strongest thing in the Metaverse, there are some things here that are able to resist against its effects. Like me. Anyways, I noticed that you guys aren’t dolphins. That’s because the last person to show up here like that took on an imperfect form. He was pretty much destined to be taken over by the bad guys. However, I have investigated the matter, and as it turns out...<br/>The Inactivity is a natural occurrence.<br/>It will only continue to fester as long as The Stu—pardon me, Arthur continues to lie dormant doing nothing to help contribute to the Metaverse’s growth. Yes, he DID merge our world and his to create the Proto-World, but that does little to stop the flow of the Partials. They can even show up in his place, which really says a lot about his efforts to cap the flow of the Partials. I will look into this further. You people stay with me and get boosted. I’ll show you into the room where you guys can become like me, strong and focused.” Team Luminary were then warped into the Contained Stratagem. A gigantic cylindric library that doubles as a battle arena particularly focused on Synergy.<br/>Arthur, meanwhile, is steadily getting the hang of Rebuff Energy. “Purge all sin. Take a step back. Keep arms and legs steady. Strike with blue force. Keep the mind sharp...”<br/>He trains for this sudden burst of confidence in a dark room with no sound, so that he only trains to look at the bright lights. The blue radiance sparkling from his fingers brightens his mood and sets the tone for the rest of his usage of that special effect. “Well, it’s about time I start making good use of this. I don’t even know where it came from. All of this is being done instinctually... Am I a pure-hearted individual? Because that’s a tired trend already. Alright? Besides, this Rebuff thing looks familiar to me somehow....”<br/>[April 20: (THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK)]<br/>The Rebuff is the type of energy that repels sin.<br/>Arthur journeyed to a far-away place once his rebuff training was done. His next destination was none other than the notorious Dual Reactor. The result of the Proto-Merge allowed both Reactors to mix, creating this devastating disaster loaded with--<br/>“Hold on, hold on. You can’t say that here. I get to do the talking. Because guess what? The Dual Reactor was my mistake. I have to pay up for this somehow. And I do that by meeting some of the natives here and giving them the what for! Let’s start by surveying the landscape.”, Arthur said in a rather comedic, hammy kind of way.<br/>“Ah, yes. A place where I can freely exercise my talent for utterly--”<br/>He backhands an Ero Partial behind him with the rebuff, vaporizing him and his [REDACTED].<br/>“MASSACRING these animals. I call them that because not only are there tons of species, they also like showing themselves off if you catch my drift. Muscular males, curvy females, I put the drop on all of them. ALL of them. They can’t do anything about it, because they are repulsed by the Rebuff. Man, this feels so much better than I thought...”<br/>“Alright, the rule here is that we do NOT look at a girl’s [REDACTED] if we know how. Got it? Alright, let’s sta--!”<br/>Arthur leaps and ducks behind a bench. Keep in mind, the Partials here leap out of pictures of themselves hanging up on the buildings and randomly attack people passing through. That’s how they get more unwilling subjects to follow them. “And THAT’S infraction #1: Unintentionally being a pervert.”<br/>Arthur equips his gun, rises back up and fires at the Partial with his eyes closed. The sounds his gun and the Partial make lets him determine how far or how near the enemy is to him. It’s an actual tactic! Once the Ero Partial is done for, he notices something familiar when he walks down the city streets.<br/>“They couldn’t have.... THEY MESSED UP THE ONLY GOOD PART ABOUT MY CAREER...! That’s her! Miracle Rabbit! (Please study up on 2016 animated movies if you don’t know where he’s going with this.) She’s [REDACTED]…. Honestly, I don’t know why I’m so surprised. I really should have seen this coming. But amongst all the Delta Cards I managed to bring here, they could certainly use a little bit of Rebuff...”<br/>He infuses one of his cards with Rebuff energy and throws it at the indecent poster. The poster disappears and the Rabbit Partial falls out of there in full view of the Solution City copy in the Proto-World's Dual Reactor. This city is noticeably bigger than the one in the Metaverse, being twice the size of the real thing and the Plaza area being set a little<br/>way away from the actual city. Either way, dazed and exposed this Partial is, set between a gun and a hard place, she chooses to flee! Arthur darts after her like Usain Bolt with Sonic’s shoes, showing off how fast he is in 2 and a half seconds! With one quick slash, he ends the reign of that Partial with one fell swoop.<br/>“And that’s infraction #2: chasing after furries...”, Arthur said to himself while laughing out loud. “That’s so funny. I should add that to the joke museum. Maybe they’ll call me a world-class comedian. Oh, I know, how about--”<br/>Just then, another individual that looks like him but wearing a blue shirt instead of a red jacket with a green shirt shows up and introduces himself. “My name is Austin Emerald. I’m another version of you. I came here to atone--”<br/>“Woah, woah, woah there buddy. Let’s skip the introduction. My name is Arthur Emerald. Now we might be polar opposites, what with the real gun and the broadsword you have there. That definitely counts as a sword right there. I mean look at that thing’s size! Is it bigger than you are?”<br/>“It’s definitely big enough to chop you down to size.”<br/>Their journey down the reactor saw some pretty interesting circumstances.<br/>“There’s a few comics on the wall... I’ll read them another time.”<br/>“There are WAAAAAAAAAAAY too many Ero Partials here, Austin. What should we do?” “Follow my rhythm, and don’t lag behind, okay?” (They both run out of a door, knowing exactly which fights to pick.)<br/>“I actually found some new Delta Cards here, Austin!” “Neat, store them and don’t lose them. You might actually need them.”<br/>“They’re actually packing heat this time! Let’s duke it out!” (The fight that followed was littered with Rebuff strikes and gunfire. The end result was a bloody mess.)<br/>Eventually, after so many missed opportunities to visit the Reactor Rooms of those that DIDN’T create any Sigma Cards, Austin and Arthur parked at the roof of a building far west of all the action they’ve caused. “Alright, we’ve made it this far. Now, I’m gonna show you my Outer Soul. Ready?”<br/>“Yep, ready.”<br/>Austin shows off his Outer Soul, a robot about twice his height equipped with tons of guns both on arms and chest. The armor is made of steel, capable of surviving the blows of even the toughest Outers. It appeared to be made entirely out of Rebuff Energy. The robot was named “Katherine #1” by its owner, Austin. On the other hand...<br/>“Arthur, you about ready to—WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”<br/>He was summoning a vast amount of energy to him. Rocks were floating upwards; the ground was cracking... Eventually “his” Outer Soul was summoned to him, a gigantic ball of flesh and tentacles surrounded by energy circles depicting Partial Posters depicting unsavory content. This was the Outer Soul, Old Maid. “You’ve summoned an Ero Partial of your own?!”, Austin exclaims before rushing after Arthur, as striking down the person whose mind is being controlled by Old Maid can release the victim from her control. Even though Katherine was unsuccessfully firing upon Old Maid with its guns, Arthur was very resistant, busting out his own<br/>moves like ice pillars and lightning arrows that could launch an adult man back several feet. Eventually, Arthur was overpowered by just 4 hits of Austin’s massive broadsword (take the chuckles to the back of the line) and had his unconscious soul laid to rest while Old Maid split herself apart in a rage and rushed at Austin, her mouth wide open from the huge crack in it. Austin grabbed Old Maid and pushed back against her as hard as he could. The tentacles grabbing onto him and Katherine #1 didn’t help, but the robot did push against her when she got to close to it. Katherine #1 eventually grabbed Old Maid and chucked her at Arthur, who reacted by filling himself up with Rebuff Energy all of a sudden and literally caught Old Maid and did a double backflip leading into a flying slam. He disappeared off the view of Austin and Katherine. They looked below and Arthur was fine, smiling at the two while Old Maid vanishes altogether. “It’s not mine. I can still feel my real one with me, it doesn’t have a cooldown!”, Arthur said.<br/>[April 21: The Unmentionables [Part 1]]<br/>Except the real problem has exposed itself to Arthur. He turns out to have several tight links to a highly dangerous location known only as The Rift. It’s a gigantic crack that splits the Metaverse in two. It’s the location from where all Partials hail from. It shows itself in the form of wires. Wires that connect to the subject’s arms and spread to the rest of the body. They manipulate one’s free will and cause them to go massive lengths to feed the Rift. It was a terrifying parasite.<br/>Austin had a method against this. He went into Arthur’s weapon collection and equipped his Master Disc. He went up to fight the Rift’s<br/>Avatar and landed a few punches before flying back into a wall. Arthur was really scared especially since he was covered in wires from the neck down. He didn’t know what to do next, but since Austin was fighting for him, he had nothing to worry about. Especially since Austin equipped the Platinum Disc, which is an upgraded version of the Master Disc sporting a silver cover instead of a purple one. It gave Austin abilities so tremendous that Arthur wondered why he didn’t use it beforehand. Regardless, Austin kept fighting an epic battle against a being that Arthur thought looked familiar. It was a Podium Guardian. That Guardian, Polaris, had his own army. Unfeeling yet relentless like him. That army approached Arthur, made of wires like he was. That’s when Arthur got up, trembling in fear, LED Ultra Blade raised. He knew exactly what he was dealing with, but he and the army got a surprise when Austin and Polaris dove deep beneath the rooftops, disappearing beneath the streets below.<br/>A few minutes after, Austin came back up, shaking wires below off his legs. The next thing he saw was Arthur bravely swiping at Wired Ero Partials with his axe. A single-bladed war axe that he forged from converting a bubble wand into a feasible weapon. “Does weapon conversion work that way?!”, Austin screamed while running towards Arthur. “All I needed was a bubble wand and several steel items that I picked up off the ground in my travels. I let my imagination do the forging.”, Arthur responded with a smile on his face. He used the axe to cut the wires off of his feet as well. “I threw my gun away. Now look at what I have.”, Austin said to Arthur while showing off a gun that looked like it was made by NERF, but was actually a blaster rifle that shot automatic rounds. “If I beef it up with Rebuff Energy, it might actually do some damage. Try it!” Arthur then powered it up by touching it with his hands covered with Rebuff Energy, which also repulsed some of the wires. After that, Austin fired the gun at the Wired Ero Partials, and they exploded into computer gore. (Is that a real term?) “They may show off in more ways than one, but they aim like Stormtroopers!”, Austin quipped.<br/>Powering his axe with Rebuff Energy (something he did on instinct, he didn’t know he could do this), Arthur rushed ahead and cut down 5 Wired Ero Partials in one swing. “Their durability is below zero! You can’t try and seduce me while having no way to protect yourself!”, Arthur said while infusing his entire body with Rebuff Energy to shake the wires off of him. The two brothers continue to rush ahead into the Lust Element, a world where rules are ignored and those vulnerable to sin can express their desires in visceral detail.<br/>Wait, that sounds FAMILIAR...!<br/>[Part 2]<br/>Inside was a psychedelic world ruled by a female fox...<br/>We would say more at this point but we’re trying to make sure it’s safe for everyone to look into.<br/>Anyway, her name was Judgement and her world was what kept the wires going. Her weapons were two energy spheres that fired projectiles and attacked with collision damage. She also relies on wire whips up close in case her enemies want to get up close and attack her that way. She used her appearance and charm to disarm her enemies but because the two brothers were very used to seeing such things, it really didn’t give her much of an advantage. Austin and Arthur, with some time, eventually did away with her despite Judgement being very durable. She tried to get back up, still nude, but by then the wires were vanishing, and with that, her as well.<br/>[April 22: Painful Offerings]<br/>The two brothers were travelling down Solution Plaza, which has noticeably far better weather than it did when Judgement’s wires were running back and forth. Suddenly, a portal made of pixels appeared in the air and out came a hooded figure whose body was covered in those same squares. His eyes had a very sinister appearance to the two brothers, so Arthur told Austin to be cautious. “Envy. That’s my name. And guess what? It’s currently present in your heart.”, the figure said. “What kind of jealousy? All I did was come back from an assignment? Is it related to--”, Arthur said. “Yep. Someone in your community has something you don’t have. Talent. Talent for drawing. And don’t even think about your own creation, Conduit. We’re talking about someone in Lowercase. Someone who--”, Envy said before getting sidelined by Austin’s gun. “No matter the case, you shouldn’t be here terrorizing the Proto-World. Look at it! It’s trembling beneath our feet!”, he shouted. “There is a being far beyond us, as well. That being exists in both worlds at the same time. Although he is not visible, his actions, the Elements, can be felt throughout both worlds. Those wires you saw earlier was the work of the Lust Element. I’m a whole figure, the Envy Element. The Wrath Element causes the worlds to tremble like they do. Just one more to focus on, and that’s the Pride Element. The only thing I have to do to acheive that goal...”, he says before aiming a laser at Austin, splitting him in half. He then cuts him horizontally as well with that same eye beam and then kicks him across the field, killing him for good.<br/>Arthur, enraged by this, told Quincy to have everyone take a break from Angel Focus training (basically, a series of rigorous spiritual assessments needed to get much stronger than before) and arrive at the Solution Plaza. Meanwhile, he himself departs for the Inner System, that is, his spiritual interior. He sees nothing but darkness in there, bordered by mechanical lights. He gets to the bottom and sees his true Outer Soul, Crosswave. “I’m gonna test you, little man. See these walls here? I can manipulate them to show you stuff you previously rejected. Perfectly innocent, wholesome stuff. Why do you turn away from this? If it harms you, let me know. After all, I’m completely out of your element.”<br/>Crosswave’s “attacks” harmed them both at once at increasing intervals, though none of them actually died from this, for the “harm” wasn’t even physical pain. They consisted of flashes of light generated by.... pictures of small domestic animals? Crosswave has a very interesting way of turning Arthur into a massive softie because by the time Envy hijacked the system and booted Arthur out of his own soul, Crosswave was already silently awakened.<br/>Envy was about to attack Arthur in the real world too, when Quincy, Sunderance and Conduit all appeared from the Proto-Sword's portal and charged at Envy armed with three Echoes: A vixen covered in a veil and a dress armed with Rebuff Energy, another vixen, this time blue and armed with a staff, and a rabbit wearing short shorts who fights with a batch of psychic powers.<br/>The army was batted back by, of all things, Envy’s finger. That flick disarmed everyone and made them fly back a few feet. Envy then pointed his finger at Arthur and dared anyone, Arthur included, to step forth and try to attack him, lest he fire a laser at our hero. However...<br/>Crosswave, stealthy as can be, sucker-punched Envy with a load of the same archaic energy Conduit brought up: Endear Energy! “Ah yes, Crosswave is the only Outer Soul that wears a special type of Delta Ring.<br/>It’s a band that endows its wearer with an energy that still isn’t fully understood and likely will never be. It’s represented by pink hearts and ribbons – yes that sounds crazy – but it fully repels all sin and evil! Even I still haven’t mastered it yet! They say that some people can’t control it outright and it spirals out of their reach. Then again, who can say what it does. It’s an unknown energy field completely outside anyone’s league.”<br/>The uppercut caused Envy to rethink firing his laser, and instead transform the entire area into his own personal battlefield: The Envy Element. Except he was sorely outclassed by those that opposed him.<br/>Crosswave led in by growing jet wings, then rushing into Envy with some punches. He was thrown back a bit, but eventually he was able to grab Envy, rise into the air, and slam him back down. One kick later spiraled him into Arthur, who dished out some blows, one by one, before launching him into the air, back into Crosswave, who rocket-punched him back into the air. Quincy and Sunderance flew in and cut Envy a few times with their swords. One slash that sent Envy flying straight down later, and Envy covered himself with a sphere shield that forced Conduit to lead his two Echoes into combat. Jewel, the blue fox with the spear, tried her best to break it, but to no avail. Correlan, the fox with the veil, tried Rebuff Energy, but the result made the two fly back, repulsed by Envy’s shield. However, it gave Arthur enough time to pick apart Envy’s battle arena, which is made up of a glass-like material, and throw it at him. One shard alone is enough to crack the shield, so Envy did a ton of dodging here. He fired a laser, which Arthur reflected back to him. Now missing an eye, Envy made sure to know which angle the mirror reflects. However, for every second he waits, a glass shard flies at him, further cracking his shield because of how fast it was. Having enough of this, Envy summoned 5 electric energy spears and threw one of them at Arthur. Arthur cleverly surrounded himself with the mirrors and picked apart more shards. He<br/>used these to make a shield for himself. The spears deflecting off of him, he called Crosswave back and rushed after Envy, using Crosswave to block anything Envy would do to him. That’s when Envy used his lasers to try and pierce Crosswave and get to Arthur. All Crosswave did was move Arthur out of the way before getting pierced himself. Not bothered by this, Crosswave went back to Envy while Arthur was falling and gave him a face full of Endear Energy through his Endear Ring, pulverizing Envy and making him vanish for good.<br/>Crosswave then fell back and caught Arthur before he could hit the ground and break something. Arthur noticed Crosswave’s wound and offered a way to heal him, but the Outer Soul spoke up. “I’m fine, actually. I have incredible amounts of durability. It’s you that should be careful out there. I’m not letting you go back inside the Dual Reactor. It's far too dangerous. Despite being a deity here, you can still suffer the same kind of pain everyone else can. Synergy is incredibly deadly out here in Lowercase, unlike the brawn and tussle of hand-to-hand fighting. Everything out here uses it, and it could be a serious problem for someone like you, even if your powers are far greater. Let me show you around my home field.”<br/>[April 23-24: Crosswave and the Silver Angels]<br/>Crosswave is an Outer Soul fashioned from an outpour of Endear Energy within Arthur’s inner self. Due to his increased levels of potential, Crosswave is able to adapt and grow according to his surroundings. Thus,<br/>in his second stage of growth, he has obtained a sword. A beam sword as thin as paper, with square rings for a cross guard and another square ring for the pommel. He is incredibly strong and durable, able to survive a lot of things. When he got pierced by Envy’s laser, he was able to heal it off quite fine. As in, the wound patched itself up. The damage he can dish out with his bare fists alone can level steel and crack diamonds. He is a humanoid about as tall as Arthur himself is (6’1) and more resembles a man in a blue and grey space suit more than an Outer Soul. However, his origins may serve as a hint to his true capabilities. He’s practically a superhero.<br/>He’s also quite knowledgeable about the Sin Elements. Arthur has already killed one and leveled another, now he must go after the third one, which is the Wrath Element. Not that easy to follow up on, but the Silver Angels, which consist of Angel and his improved heroes, Quincy, Sunderance and Conduit can help with the operation. Problem?<br/>They just set foot on the Proto-World.<br/>“Don’t worry, I gave everyone the heads-up on how to behave in this world. I would like for everyone present to introduce themselves--”, Angel said. “Nah, we’d like to skip the introductions. Besides, we already know that our very own creator is here with us. YOU gave us the power to see the Proto-World, you know. You also gave us that “advanced knowledge” that you glorified sooooooo much. At least let us get straight to the point first.”, Quincy said. “We have grown much stronger since we went to Angel’s place and trained with him. Now we have formed our own group! We have been enhanced to an unnatural level--”<br/>“Wait, wait, wait, slow down. First of all, what happened to you guys while you were up there? There should really be no reason to come down<br/>here unless we need assistance. While it’s nice to have you around, someone STILL needs to protect the Metaverse.”, Arthur questioned.<br/>Quincy’s Outer Soul, Teenager’s Link, has reached its second growth level and looks less translucent. However, its form is still uncertain. Its new powers include warping the fabric of space, teleportation, and entering worlds unseen to the naked eye (like the internet, microscopic locations and an entity’s body).<br/>Sunderance’s Outer Soul, Growing Pains, has been awakened. A very flashy guardian like he is, it is a suit of shiny grey armor with medium sized holes in the plates. It wields a gigantic sword almost as large as Breakthrough. One swing of that sword is enough to decimate a car. However, Growing Pains is very slow, so Sunderance uses it as a countermeasure or a defense wall.<br/>Conduit’s other Outer Soul, Heart to Heart, has been awakened as well. It is a humanoid guardian with a heart-shaped hole in its chest. Predominately red-and-black colored, this Outer Soul uses Endear Energy to enhance its melee attacks. It can also fire projectiles from its fingers, hands and a large one from its chest. It’s the only Outer Soul in the group weaker than its user. “It’s a leftover from the other universe. You can always teach an old dog new tricks...”<br/>Angel’s Outer Soul, Avatier Gold, elevated to its second stage of growth. A very fast-moving Outer Soul, she can attack at very fast speeds and can outrun a full-speed train. She can go quite far, and is also quite durable despite the speed. She is actually more than capable of taking on everyone in the group, Angel included. Why, you ask? Because she is in fact Silver’s assistant, Mako, willingly converting herself into an Outer Soul so that she can continue to help Angel with his priorities.<br/>However, despite the heroes being quite organized, there is something still wrong going on.<br/>A surreal splash of colors goes off in the darkness! Neither here nor there, it continues expanding as Arthur feels something in the back of his head. It was Odin, having wandered off and fused himself with a very powerful part of the Dual Reactor, turning himself into Loki, the Outer Soul without a user.<br/>[April 25: [REDACTED]]<br/>Then out of nowhere, Loki gets his head smashed in by an unknown figure. “I’m sorry for causing you trouble. You were in the way.”<br/>Arthur was just sending the Silver Angels back into the Metaverse when he felt something sharp hit his neck. Blood rushes past at least 4 of his orifices before he suddenly loses an arm. “What’s going on here?!”, he said before getting tied up by something as he is flung up into the air hanging upside down. Missing an arm, having both of his legs broken and panicking like crazy gave Arthur the impression that his old enemy was back. “Where are you?”<br/>“Hush, student. I feel like you’re giving me too much heartache. Besides, I already dealt with one of your targets. Do you feel like being snapped in half?” It’s Envy. His Outer Soul, Wrath, had shown up just in time to revive him and teleport him when he was defeated. Now he’s much stronger, to the point where he’s near-unbeatable. He also carries an unusually calm demeanor this time. “I fought this person that wields plants, and I noticed something. When she warped me into this alternate world, I felt like I was being overpowered. Overpowered with something beyond my control. It was tearing me apart, and now I found who exactly did it. I know exactly what caused me to feel that way. Except it’s the same feeling that formed me. I don’t know what it was, but it created me and put me inside of you. And now that I know that you’re the source of it, I have decided to set my sights on you. First, I’ll do this.”<br/>He threw Arthur back so far that he landed in a parallel world. Not the Proto-World, not the Metaverse. It was completely different. “This is a world you land in when you feel broken.”<br/>“I’m not broken!”<br/>“Not you. Starchaser. The one that literally runs the universe of things. He’s broken because I put a crack in his plans. I put a crack in the way he views the world because SOMEONE can’t keep his head to himself and has to worry about someone else’s problems! I’m brutally ashamed of you, Arthur! I may be the bad guy but YOU are literally the one who caused me to feel the way I do. I feel like utterly smashing something to pieces. What should I do?” “Well let me give you some pointers. Either you can travel to another parallel universe and burn all the things there since it’s connected to whoever you fought earlier, OR you can talk things out with me since you apparently don’t feel like--”<br/>“And let me give YOU some pointers. Have you ever checked my name? It’s literally Envy, and I’ll do anything to feel better about myself.”<br/>“Well, you won’t do it watching other people become big.”<br/>Envy’s eyes, so unfeeling, unnerving. They darted towards Arthur, but then after a while they moved back to the “wall” of the world they were standing in.<br/>“I know I won’t be able to beat you once you’re sufficiently ticked off, but what I can do is let you get over feeling worthless so that I won’t have to try and beat you. I know how strong you are.”<br/>“If you do then why can’t I draw?”<br/>Arthur then realized that he, the Conduit, Envy and Starchaser are all linked. All 4 of them tried to draw the same thing. Yet, they all proved to be middling at best. He then understood that this person Envy tried to fight did way better than him in more ways than one. She was just that much better. Envy didn’t feel quite right after that. He really DID feel overpowered. Then again, so did Arthur. However, Envy had used him as a vessel for his fight with Plantlife. Thus, what Arthur felt, he felt. That’s why Envy does not think very highly of Arthur. Wrath was then awakened, reviving Envy and putting him back in the Proto-World. It also gave him a massive increase in strength and durability. Thus, Envy feels thankful, yet discouraged. Like his own talents didn’t measure up to anybody’s, but hers in particular. He came back because of two other people, not of his own will.<br/>“I think you should actually be charitable of the people that brought you back. Are you still planning on wreaking havoc?”<br/>“Maybe. It just depends on where we take this.”<br/>“Then how about...”<br/>Arthur pulls out a Delta Card that depicts the Miracle Couple in an artstyle very familiar to both combatants.<br/>“We take this where we aren’t gonna take it again!”<br/>Arthur throws the card at Envy, but he blocks it and summons Wrath. Undeterred, Arthur switches the area where the two fight and dodges Envy’s attack. He then summon’s Crosswave’s outline and pulls out 5 more Delta Cards of the same kind. Envy is surprised at this, as he didn’t know Arthur had this kind of connection. “Millennium does not discriminate! I take up all kinds of art regardless of who made it!”, he shouts before surrounding himself with said cards and then surrounding himself with vines. That’s what Plantlife’s main ability is and it shocked Envy. In reply, he shot an eye beam at Arthur, but the outline of Crosswave blocked it. “He’s just as durable as he is IN the Proto-World!” Arthur then fires a vine whip at Envy, choking him the way Plantlife did in their fight. Wrath charges after Arthur, but Crosswave intervenes and lands a few punches. Arthur tightens the whip, knowing that it would weaken Wrath’s link with Envy and make him become weaker. Crosswave then grabs Wrath and does a back breaker on him, putting him out for a while. “WHY IS YOUR OUTER SOUL MUCH STRONGER THAN MINE?”, Envy shouts. “It’s your fault for thinking you’re much better than anybody. See, I run on pure charitability, meaning I think highly of everyone, not just myself. You, on the other hand, you’re just someone who puts himself on a pedestal only to get knocked down when something doesn’t go your way. I feel like I’m gonna meet people like you, but you’re the most despicable I’ve met. You don’t even want to talk to the people that YOU feel wronged you, not what others feel wronged you. Besides, your reasons for tracking me down just to annihilate me make no sense whatsoever. It's an excuse to be back in the top spot, and right now, nobody’s taking it. I may have lost an arm...Oh wait, it’s right here. Anyway, you don’t belong anywhere.”<br/>Arthur then continues tightening the whip until a radiant light shines from it, enveloping Envy in it and blowing him up from the inside. His essence disappears and Starchaser absorbs it.<br/>“Wait, why’d it do that?”<br/>A voice.<br/>“You’re not in your zone. That’s okay. That’s because you were brought here against your will. I’m Starchaser, and that’s only a nickname. I’m the universe itself and all it runs on, and you destroying Envy allowed me to finally become what I’ve been wanting to become. At a price. First and foremost, you can’t really do anything with those cards. Those vines around you? They’re stuck until you draw something decent. Something they’ll love. If you put your pride in yourself and not your work, like En—no, like YOU (and I) did, you’ll falter and your effort will become less. Start small, and work your way up. DON’T immediately try to hit the big time and start drawing things you’ll regret drawing, because not every artist has the same origins. If you can’t even draw a simple circle, then you’re not ready to start going big. Go back in the Proto-World and develop yourself further. You may be the strongest one there but you’re not perfect. Neither am I. We’re all connected. Each and every single person in my universe is linked to me, and thus we all carry flaws. Not the same flaws, but still flaws nonetheless. I want you to improve yours in order to improve mine. Then, we can all get along.”<br/>“Where do I start?”<br/>“First, you look up something called a tutorial. Then, you get your head prepared because if neither world is peaceful, then you can’t do much at the moment. And last but not least, DO NOT interact with the one responsible with those vines until they’re no longer connected with you.”<br/>“It’s a curse?”<br/>“And a very responsibly-oriented curse. You’ll only fight with those vines if you can’t be serious about your craft skills. Do what you did earlier, and you won’t be shaking off those vines period.”<br/>With that, Arthur was sent back to the Proto-World, in his natural habitat. A city with no traffic and a clearly-visible Soul Canvas. His very own, one that he never had before but was now ready to use.<br/>He was on his way to being a Soul Creator.<br/>[April 26: Priorities Part 2]<br/>Then Arthur found a crown on the ground and picked it up. “You know, instead of having to wall myself off...”<br/>He then puts it on and gains a giant pencil for a scepter.<br/>“I can reflect the light that the Delta Cards emit and not have to go through this mess! My formality goes beyond simple drawings, so I’ve decided to make arrangements to solve this error. Wearing this band on my head allows me to set things right.”<br/>He then converts his Soul Canvas into a notebook and goes off to find Starchaser.<br/>Of course, Starchaser did not expect this to happen, as he had a long, complicated plan set up specifically engineered for this kind of occasion. He was actually the one that implanted Wrath into Envy’s body to revive him. Envy is indeed one of Starchaser’s creations, and he was saddened to see him go. While he does not plan on bringing him back, Starchaser ensured that his influence would stick around for years to come, and<br/>unless he was defeated it would not go away. Envy’s influence would continue to destroy Arthur from the inside, and then it would spread to the Metaverse inhabitants, killing them off if they ever intended to go near Starchaser instead of occupying themselves with the temporary enemies of the Metaverse. Arthur’s next assignment is to find Starchaser and kill him...<br/>But there’s a problem.<br/>Starchaser’s ability as the universe’s Outer Soul is to literally bend the rules of reality as he goes along. To counteract this, he’s been given the mind of a child that is not always allowed to get his way. Thus, he can make some very poor decisions when under stress. However, Starchaser knows how to keep his cool, and that’s by warping the rules to fit his ends. The first thing he did with this ability was to make himself incapable of permanently dying. That way, he can come back again and again, rendering himself functionally immortal. There is a flaw to this, and that’s to kill him twice. Once in the Proto-World, again in the Extraverse, the plane of existence outside of any prior worlds. It’s like the afterlife, or a world beyond worlds. Once he is defeated there, he cannot come back. However, Starchaser is EXTREMELY powerful. His offense is off the charts, and he’s about as durable as a cockroach. This is because he has boosted his stats in preparation for what’s coming to him. He knows how strong his own creations are, but Arthur’s not gonna let a man-child determine how he chooses to live. He ditches the scepter and chooses to go straight to his hiding spot: Nascent Galaxy.<br/>And one more detail. Starchaser is not fond of the entity that Envy once fought. That’s because he tried to fight her himself, despite not having gotten used to his abilities yet. He was floored, his weakness to her Delta Cards exposed.<br/>[April 27: End of the World: Part 1: Prelude]<br/>All of a sudden, as Arthur was approaching the Meridian’s End in the Proto-World (it was a crack in reality that Arthur had to trespass with a Glass Portal), Quincy and his group appeared to talk to Arthur. “Why aren’t you in the Metaverse?”, he questioned. “We figured it out. The Metaverse is just a very surreal illusion – a really good, really convincing one – that hides away your thoughts and feelings. We have decided to cut it open in order to let it bleed and pour itself out to the universe on high. We had some help, however.”, Quincy said while revealing the Proto-Sword's reflection on the blade itself. “See? When I look into it, my reflection’s not there. Yours is. Same thing with your reflection. It’s not you, but me. We’re more linked than you think.”<br/>With that, Arthur was handed something else, by Conduit. “You probably saw me draw this, so in chase Starchaser wants to boast about how good he is, just show him this. I intentionally drew it like I possessed only a few decent art skills. That’s because I cannot exactly use my Outer Soul, Heart-to-Heart, at its fullest quite yet. See, everyone who comes from the Metaverse has to do a certain thing to increase their Soul’s potential. Mine is drawing, and every little thing we do benefits you as well. Like Quincy said, we’re more linked than you think.” The item was Conduit’s Delta Card, which has the unique ability to summon an Echo Conduit himself made, Developing Artstyle. It's quite weak, but has the potential to grow over time, eventually becoming as good as the other Echo Cards Team Luminary possess.<br/>Because the pathway to the Nascent Galaxy was near, Starchaser had one more surprise for our heroes. That was some Prime Partials. A wicked combination of Inactivity Partials and Sin Partials, they are the manifestation of corruption at its purest. Fortunately, Arthur was a team of 5. Himself, Quincy, Delta, Sunderance and Conduit. The impressive<br/>world of Luminary was beginning to pack its bags for the wide world of the universe ahead. Nobody’s mental powers were bigger than all the stars that the team could see ahead of them while fighting these astral adversaries. Eventually, however, it was going to go down in style. The 6 would not see it coming.<br/>[April 28: End of the World Part 2: Harmonic]<br/>“If there is a way to end this universe and reshape it in my own image, so be it. I’m willing to take that risk. I don’t like what they’re doing. It’s putting me at unrest--”<br/>Starchaser was talking to himself when Razor, who had heard of Starchaser’s quest motivated by jealousy, showed up at Starchaser’s placem which is an incredibly bizarre mishmash of various locations, including Cool Silver, both Reactors and even the Blue Virus, which previously posed so great a threat the very entity that controls it had to be excised. Razor came up and without a word attacked Starchaser by throwing punches at him. Starchaser, caught by surprise, blocks Razor’s atack and responds by punching him hard enough to weaken him, then slamming him on the ground. He achieved this by altering their strength levels so that he’s stronger and Razor’s weaker. However, Razor counteracted this by attempting to burn him with fire, which is an ability Razor never knew he possessed. Starchaser just teleported behind Razor and tried to run for the exit, which leads to some stars that they both can run on. Razor prevents this from happening by throwing a fireball at him, which causes Star to trip over himself and reveal the seemingly abandoned room’s true form, which is a colorful mass of blocks surrounding a mass of equally colorful blocky trees, with a platform in 4<br/>different colors above it all. It was Star’s arena. Tiffany was also there, having gotten there late. She watched as Star started pummelling Razor while the latter was blocking, doing so at a rapid pace, and then attempting to land a hard straight. He missed so horribly that Razor took his chance and landed that same straight punch Star tried to throw, knocking him back a few feet. Tiffany got up at the same time Star did and attempted to attack with her staff, but Star just took the staff, broke it, and slung her back so far across the arena she was thrown clean off of it altogether. Razor thought she was dead at this point, so he rushed at Starchaser as they kept fighting on that arena.<br/>Except Star had a surprise at hand. He summoned clones of himself, each one being a past version of him that he had summoned to the present. He’s trying to merge absolutely everything together in order to rebuild the world in his image, and the clones are just the start of that project....<br/>There are methods of travelling from place to place, as the universe is filled with its own little rooms that are entered through Glass Portals that are already premade. Transportation can also involve walking on foot through the stars themselves. It’s strange, but it’s like walking through a city. A city with floors like a mansion.<br/>[April 29: End of the World Part 3: Composure]<br/>Those very same clones from up there are also fighting our heroes down below. Arthur went to check on one of those rooms in the Glass Portals when he saw a pink light flowing from the wall. He checked, and he quickly ducked behind the corner again, his face looking like he saw a<br/>ghost. He took out a blank card and held it up against the light, and it flew out of Arthur’s hand and attached itself to the wall. The wall glowed and out came....<br/>“Why, you look familiar. Aren’t you the Miracle Rabbit?”<br/>The entity gave no answer as it attacked Arthur. Blow after blow Arthur blocked, dodged and flipped over. He gave himself Rebuff Energy to counteract the effects of the punches, but eventually he gave way to combat as well. One swift hit to the body revealed the entity to be one of Starchaser’s clones modeled after the Miracle Rabbit. The two fought with their respective energy sources in the air, which took them to a different location entirely. It’s a path outside of a city bordered by brownish tall grass, with a powerline hanging above. A truck is situated in the middle of the path, parked horizontally. The two kept fighting in the air, landing blow after blow. When Arthur was knocked to the ground by the clone’s overwhelming strength, he had only one option left. Sunderance, Delta and Conduit look on behind the truck.<br/>He took out a blank card and copied the location data onto it, creating the same card that gave birth to this clone. He swipes it once, making it completely disappear. Then the REAL Miracle Couple show up in a different art style from what Markus summoned earlier on, completely terrifying the clone to the point where it won’t even move a muscle. A laser is charged up between the three, and when it’s fired, it pierces the truck, almost hitting Delta. The clone is completely turned to stone and the truck’s interior is also turned to stone. Arthur walks away completed as the Couple vanish until the clone breaks out of the stone, determined to finish off Arthur from behind. Arthur just turns around, takes out another card and stops time altogether. Then Arthur breaks the clone’s neck, snaps both of its arms off and shatters its legs. The rest comes after time has begun to move again. It all happened in a second according to<br/>the three that were watching. Arthur picks up the Delta Card... and it attaches itself to his left index finger’s knuckle.<br/>“That right there is a Stellar Card, and only certain people can use it correctly. What you just pulled off there, the act of stopping time, can only be done by Stellar Card users. In fact, the “time stop” card you used is attached to your left middle finger’s knuckle now!”, Delta said.<br/>“That’s pretty neat, but I can’t shake the feeling that someone is here watching me. I don’t know what it is, but I know that they created this place among tons of others. What is it?”, Arthur asked.<br/>“Unfortunately, you’re the only Stellar Card user we know. The last one that was here got killed off. Not only that, but they have the sole responsibility of keeping the universe safe. That means that they are likely to become rulers over the universe, able to bend it at will. But I know for sure that the end of this one is inevitable. You and your adversary will be the ones to do it. Everyone will vanish, and a new world will emerge from the leftovers of that cataclysmic event. All you have to do is shape it.”<br/>Starchaser’s arena, meanwhile, contained one almost dead Razor, an absolutely dead Tiffany, many clones waiting to be sent, and one reality warper seething with rage over the many Stellar Cards he is analyzing. They all come from one source, the entity known as Plantlife. Plantlife’s influence has spread throughout a large part of the Metaverse, and that’s the reason why he broke off from Luminary and found his place in the universe as its ruler. He wants to wreck the cards knowing full well he can’t do so. He just can’t shake that feeling of envy from him. He thinks he’s doing as good of a job at manufacturing these cards as she is, but since there’s many of her cards and only one of his, he just feels like he’s being picked on. “I know exactly where this part of the world is headed.<br/>It’s going in my direction for sure. However, to pull this off with the threat of the cards in my way would be as tough of a challenge as--”<br/>He then warps his perception of reality so that the Stellar Cards he’s analyzing aren’t there anymore. This has a side effect. When Arthur discovers that one of the areas that Star scooped up from Luminary is the Refined Sanctuary, he goes and sits at the front desk. To his surprise, there are 7 more Stellar Cards on the desk. “Well? How is it? I’ve been collecting these for a small bit of time, back when this Starchaser thing I heard about wasn’t an issue. Now you get to use them yourself!”, Delta explained in a cheerful voice.<br/>Each and every card attached themselves to Arthur’s hand, beginning with the back of his left palm, then his thumb’s knuckle, his left ring finger’s knuckle, his left pinky finger’s knuckle, and nearly his entire right hand (save for the pinky finger). While the cards stayed on the palms as padded gloves, each of the cards stuck to his fingers transformed into rings. “Stellar Rings! They will give you their abilities as long as you wear them. From stopping time to teleportation, their impressive repertoire is yours to keep!”, Delta ecstatically exclaimed with egregious energy. She was overjoyed to see this development, and neither of them knew he could use those gloves, either. They were incredibly state of the art, able to protect the user from just about anything. Their ability to store rings is also impressive, as they save their user from the strain garnered from trying to wear more than one ring. Delta finishes the job by equipping an Endear Ring on the right pinky finger, fully upgrading that glove as well. “Honestly I hope these gloves survive the end of our universe. They’re developed specifically for the occasion. Each ring has a special power, and it’s up to you to figure them out. I don’t have to tell you because you’ll learn them as time goes on.”<br/>A clone then breaks into the Sanctuary, and before Delta is able to react, Arthur uses one of his rings to speedily decapitate the Starclone.<br/>“Super Speed. A property of the left ring finger’s Stellar Ring. The user is able to speed themselves up to a maximum of 3x the user’s average running speed. Power is equal to the MPH of the user, meaning the faster they go, the more damage in a single hit they do.”, the ring explained to Arthur. He learns what his rings do when he uses them.<br/>There’s something else that’s been going on as well, Shay-501 as well as Alyssa are in the Butterfly Garden, and it’s going through a pretty crazy movement of colors, all associated with the place Arthur fought the clone in that necessitated the summoning of the third Miracle Couple (Markus holds the first one, Vita holds the second one). Alyssa has already gathered enough crops to feed a family of 4 for a week, and as she headed to the Superhighway she noticed that the entire Tower has a huge hole in it. She left her crops behind and went up to find out what was wrong with it. Shay analyzed her fruits and vegetables and found out why she would do such a bizarre thing during a time of war: they’re not fruits OR vegetables at all. They just look like that in the Garden. Shay took the bag with him and went with Alyssa to what’s left of the Tower. There’s a suitably MASSIVE Glass Portal there leading to the edge of the universe. As they went through there, Shay’s bag got much heavier. Alyssa was cultivating Delta Rings! “How do you grow such a strange object?!”, Shay asked Alyssa. “It’s the Garden’s secret. Everyone’s gonna wear these. Here, pick one.”, Alyssa explained. Shay wore one of the rings, and his armor got stronger. Alyssa was already wearing two of them, however Shay could wear three. So he picked two more and wore them as well. His offence increased by a massive amount and he gained a new ability: Ice. He took advantage of his new abilities and skated around the Universal Junction. Alyssa gave chase by making the ring bag float using one of her own rings, then charged ahead, wrapped in fire. These rings are extraordinary, and they could be used to contribute to the war for the universe.</p><p>[End of the World Part 4: Conclusion]<br/>Arthur saw himself in a ropes course for his next assignment. He went there to confront another clone, which primarily wielded daggers, as it was a ninja. Disappearing and reappearing are its strong points, so it is very hard to hit. Reaction time is necessary, as many of its attacks are quite hard blows. Either way, it is very much vulnerable to being kicked off of the platform, as it found out the hard way when Arthur landed a well-timed kick combined with a blast from his gun in order to send it flying across the platform (they are both tiny) and onto the ground with a hard thud. You could see nothing but glass and a ton of red where it hit the ground.<br/>His second assignment wasn’t so easy. His next foe was a special clone that was a member of Starchaser’s task force, the Sons of the Easy Way. This clone possessed many ranged weapons and thus was pretty hard to get close to. It knocked Arthur away when he tried to get close, so he took out his LED Ultra Gun and fired at the clone just once. Even as it dodged, its legs were gone. Arthur finished the job by kicking the clone off the kitchen counter where they were fighting (tiny, again) and said: “Priority number one! Care for your well-being and get things done on time!”. The clone exploded into green dust soon after. Starchaser felt this and became somewhat weaker. “Alright “Mister Initiative”, I have a surprise for you.”, he muttered. “So do I.”, Arthur replied. Starchaser felt a shock, as he didn’t expect Arthur to reply or even hear him.<br/>In fact, Arthur was at the Dual Reactor (he’s been here before but most of the time he just finds new Delta Cards while dodging gunfire) trying to<br/>find a way to get to the Nascent Galaxy where Starchaser was. Eventually he came across yet ANOTHER Stellar Card source. “She’s here too? I didn’t guess that at first glance.” Another blank card, and finally his right glove gets upgraded to its maximum potential. Both of his gloves become metallic, and his rings all start to shine. He was truly ready to take on Starchaser. As he went through the Dual Reactor, punching everything that moved there (including regular Sin Partials, which were weak enough to kill in one hit), he eventually came across a hallway that had all of his blank cards emerge from his pocket. “Ah, so see, these images here... They attract these blank cards naturally. Do they have latent Delta Energy?”, Delta showed up. “Yep, this makes total sense. Fursuits, Delta Energy, blank cards flying up at random attaching themselves to these posters like leeches... I’m gonna go and do something else.”, Arthur said to himself. “Like what?”, Delta asked. She didn’t get a response. Arthur had already gone out of his way to plant explosives in every corner of the Reactor that housed explicit art....<br/>But that meant covering over a sixth of the Reactor with bombs. Bombs from one of his rings, designed to detonate when he says so. As he jumped and perched himself on top of the Reactor, which was shaped like a volcano, three Starclones approached him standing on those edges. “Don’t bode your time here, friends. Sooner than later this Reactor will only possess the frames of the dear ones that travelled through here in frequent times. Those in animal suits....”<br/>He detonated the bombs, sending him flying as he turned around and saw the Dual Reactor being blown up into but a shell of its former self. Arthur’s happy with this, because he’s not done with the Sons of the Easy Way. Quincy’s in another location altogether fighting two of them with Sunderance. One of them resembles a pirate and fights with a sword, blunderbuss and powder kegs. The other one carries a space gun and a jetpack. It also carries a missile launcher on its shoulder. The Proto-Sword is working its magic here as the strongest sword ever made, probably<br/>because everywhere outside Lowercase is where it’s strongest, and the Proto-World contains a part of Lowercase. Thus, the Proto-Sword works even in the Meridian’s End. Thus, the Partials are no match for how cutting edge (pun intended) the weapon is. Even Sunderance’s Breakthrough doesn’t hold a candle to it!<br/>However, despite two Sons of the Easy Way getting felled in combat, this was just the beginning of something extraordinary. Starchaser let loose with his clones and set up an entire army of them in front of the Nascent Galaxy’s entrance. Since our heroes are very close to reaching it given all they had to go through so far, of course they’d have to stand firm against the last of the clones, including the rest of the Sons of the Easy Way.<br/>All 23,098 of the Starclones, all 5 of the Sons of the Easy Way. They were all ready to take up war as Team Luminary approached them.<br/>[April 30th: End of the World, Part 5: Requiem]<br/>Arthur went up and fought one of them directly as the war started, but the problem was that this Easy Way member, Strength, was a bit different. He warped Arthur into a different location entirely and mutated into some sort of polygon. Arthur cut it down quite easily, but was warped into a polygonal space tunnel and forced to meet a block on the wall that didn’t quite move at the same rate as Arthur did, which applied to the entire location, also polygonal and pixellated. Arthur went for the simple option and levitated the object off the wall, throwing it across the<br/>room. This having killed Strength; he went back outside into the war field....<br/>Only to find Angel in the middle of the battlefield, having killed everything there and forcibly unlocking the door leading to Starchaser’s room. “Took me a ton of effort to clear the field once I traveled here. The door’s open. Don’t you wanna go inside?”, Angel said to Team Luminary as they travelled up the steps.<br/>“What took you so long?”, Starchaser said to the entire team. Razor had died from his wounds, and Starchaser was already heavily weakened from Angel’s efforts. Besides, Arthur had only one goal now and that was to destroy the one causing him so much trouble. “Step back, boys. This won’t take but a second.”, Arthur said. Before he could react, Starchaser snapped his fingers and before anyone knew it, Delta’s head was cut off. “Oh, you’re gonna start decapitating people now?”, Arthur said to him as he rushed forth and started wailing on Starchaser. Nothing had worked yet, however. “You know what? I’ll give you a special exception. Let me see that.”, Starchaser said before taking Arthur’s Developing Artstyle card from him and examining it. “Would this be in fact my own creation? If so, I should be treated with the respect of a professional! Come on, Arthur! Let’s join together and--” Arthur had decked him in the face while his guard was down. Infused with the Stellar Rings, Starchaser felt every bit of energy flowing in those gloves. “You partnered up with who now? My SUPERIOR?” Arthur used his Stellar Rings to recharge Austin’s body with the essence of Plantlife, giving him new life under a different movepool. The souls of everyone previously involved with Team Luminary suddenly collapsed into a state of trance as the room they were in started<br/>dissolving. “I’m ending the world. Feel free to try and change it. Nothing’s gonna be better than the image of the world I have set in stone. Sooner or later, I will be the head of the global household!” Arthur summoned Crosswave as he was talking and stated landing punch after punch on Starchaser until the guy relented and took out two large swords. The expanse of the universe was visible to them both. “Don’t you see it?! The old universe of things is gonna crash! Now you have one opportunity to make up your mind!”, Starchaser said. Arthur continued to bide his time into combining Crosswave and Plantlife Austin into one Outer Soul: Eden. Since Arthur knew Starchase couldn’t die, he opted for a new step. He activated Eden. None of Starchaser’s swords were able to hit him, as they all phased through the almighty power that Eden possessed. “You’re nothing but a man who’s drawn a stick figure comparing himself to someone who drew the Mona Lisa! I will show you my cards, and I will put you to sleep.”, Arthur declared.<br/>“Huh? That s---’s crazy!”, Starchaser’s last words were.<br/>Arthur opted to collapse the universe in a swirl of colors and merge it with the Metaverse, creating a new world in the process. Starchaser’s ego shattered, his existence denied, his purpose completed, he went and stared at his body as it froze, broke apart, tore itself to pieces, and had every last fragment destroyed collaterally. His very essence was gone, and Arthur felt a radical change in power. He had more control over what he could do.<br/>Since he still caused the universe to reset, he still had to revive a few good ones. Delta, Sunderance, Angel, COnduit and Quincy were all chosen. Everyone else except Starchaser was merged into the new world to hold it up for times to come. “Look, guys! I see it! I see it approaching!”</p><p>[Epilogue]<br/>[INT: UNKNOWN LOCATION]<br/>Ten rings fall on the ground. Each one holds a different drawing made by a high-class individual. After that, a card with the number 15 on it descends from the air. It depicts a sleeping fox.</p>
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